Righteous darkness
by munchinmonster
Summary: They tell us that there is no good or bad magic and that it is all about intent, well Harry's intent wasn't exactly benign. Post OotP HP/SB
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise. Harry Potter, the characters and all that stuff belong to JK, I'm just twisting them for my own amusement.

Basically I decided to redo this story, I'm changing a few things like pairing Harry with someone, adding a few new characters, etc. This is NOT a dark fic more of a Harry taking control of his life and flipping Dumbledore the birdie fic. I am not a fan of the traditional pairings so I am pairing Harry off with Susan Bones for this story seeing as there are not many decent HP/SB stories on here.

**-HP-**

It was early evening and a lone figure walked along a beaten path leading up one of the many mountains to the south east of Jumla in Nepal. The mountain winds biting into the bones of the figure even though he had a powerful warming charm on his many robes. He was struggling to walk along this path although you wouldn't be able to tell it by looking at him. He walked with his head high and even though he was freezing he showed confidence in his ability to get to his destination. He refused to let the temperature beat him, he had face death countless time in his rise to power and refused to let something as insignificant as the weather stop him. He was Voldemort and in his eyes nothing stood in his way.

Through the blizzard he could see a shape forming ahead of him. It was his destination, an old monastery, hundreds of years old and a popular rest stop for travellers in the past although not any longer. Now it was claimed by one individual, a powerful individual who liked his privacy. Like most wizards he used wards to ensure nobody found the location of this place but unlike traditional wards which repelled people these ones drew people in. As soon as you see the building you are compelled to enter it and only the most powerful of wizards ever leave. Those without the power to overcome the compulsion charm were drawn in and sacrificed by the owner in rituals.

Voldemort walked up to the door to see it wide open. He looked in and noticed that the blizzard did not enter the building, the magic protecting this place destroyed the snow as it hit the entrance. Voldemort could feel the sensory charms on the door frame and walked through them letting his presence be known to the master of the house.

As soon as he was inside Voldemort warmed up instantly, he turned around and could see the snow not a foot away but he could no longer feel the biting wind or the sub zero temperature. He cancelled his warming charms and began his journey into the heart of the building. It had been a long time since he had last been here, almost thirty years had passed but he still remembered the way to the throne room.

Voldemort walked into the throne room and it was exactly like it was thirty years ago. There were marble columns on each side of the room holding up two balconies that spanned the length of the room. There were black bones moulded to the columns and you could hear the faint echo of the screaming souls that those bones used to belong to although if you listened for them the screams would disappear causing anybody who didn't know this man to believe that they were just hearing things.

Voldemort continued walking until he was only about ten meters away from the raised platform that housed the throne. He looked up at the person sitting there. The man was looking back at Voldemort with eyes that pierced your very soul, not that Voldemort had much of one left. The eyes were the only part of the person that looked alive. He was draped in a thin black robe with the hood up which hid his skeletal face. Voldemort could see his arms and they were as white as bone and just as thin, it was only after looking carefully that you realised that he did in fact have skin.

The man name was Abaddon. This is not his real name, his real name he would not tell to anyone as he believed that names hold power, although Voldemort doubted that the man could even remember it himself. Abbadon was where the British legend of the Grim Reaper came from. During the 15th century he was the most powerful wizard alive and took to harassing and killing people as he saw fit. Word spread of him and he eventually became a legend. In the late 15th century he mastered the arts of blood magic and necromancy and through a mixture of the two manage to make himself immortal. He never revealed how he did it but it is said that when he finds an apprentice who shows as much talent and skill as he did when he mastered the arts then and only then would he pass on the secret and move on to the next great adventure. Although this was only a myth, one that Abaddon neither admits to nor denies. Five centuries later and he no longer cares about ruling people or inciting fear, he sits in his old monastery only leaving when he finds an apprentice to train.

"Tom, it has been a while since you last stepped foot in my home, what brings you here?" Abbadon said in a wheezy dry voice.

"You have a visitor, did I come at a bad time?" Voldemort said not really caring if he had or not.

"Of course I have a visitor, you are standing here are you not?"

Voldemort cringed slightly at this, he had always hated the old mans weird and dry sense of humour. "That is not what I meant and you know it old man."

"Old man, where is your respect for your old master my former apprentice?"

"I am your apprentice no more, now I am the master."

"You twist these words to suit your need, you may no longer be my apprentice but you are no master either."

"I have my followers, my servants who do my bidding when I require them to."

At this Abbadon just shook his head. "Maybe so, but what are you a master of Tom?"

"I am their master, they are my servants."

"Yes and what great servants they are, abandoning you for all those years, living the life of comfort while you were stuck in a half life. You control them with fear. Fear is good when in the heart of you enemy but it is a weak tool with which to control people."

"You used to control people with fear unless what you told me was a lie."

"Yes and I would've thought someone as smart as yourself would have learned from my mistake." Abbadon almost shouted.

"Is that why you betrayed me?"

"I did no such thing. I promised to train you and train you I did, I did not swear any vowel of loyalty to you, I did not promise to follow you. I follow no one, even when there were witches and wizards as powerful as myself around I still followed no one. No, I left because you refused to learn what I was teaching, nothing more, nothing less."

"Yet out of everybody you could have trained you picked one of my enemies."

"She was the most powerful witch alive and she was willing to learn. I taught her more in a year than you learned in ten."

"Yet I still killed her."

"And it cost you dearly, I hear you still have yet to kill her son." Abbadon said with a dry laugh.

"So you have made up your mind. You are going to help the boy and Dumbledore. That is why he is here isn't it?"

As Voldemort said that Dumbledore walked out from behind one of the pillars. "Hello Tom." Dumbledore said in his normal calm voice.

"I can see that I am wasting my time here." Voldemort said before turning around to leave.

"Yes, Albus is here for the same reason as you are, to recruit me in your little war but it is not something I care for, it is your problem and not mine so it is something I will not get involved with. As for training Lily's son I have yet to decide either way, I never accept an apprentice without first setting my eyes on them. But you are correct about one thing Tom, you are wasting your time here, you have proven that you do not wish to learn anymore of what I teach so you really have no business here." Abbadon said before dismissing Voldemort, making him disappear and reappear outside of the now locked Monastery.

"Now Albus, please continue with what you were saying before Tom showed up."

"Very well Lord Abbadon. As I was saying, now that Voldemort is back Harry is his prime Target. Harry has had a few confrontations with him and has been lucky so far. I am hoping that you will train him like you once did Lily."

"As I said to Tom, I do not want to get involved with your war. Tom is powerful, he may be undisciplined and arrogant but he does have more power than the average wizard, it was one of the reason I recruited him as an apprentice all those years ago. This boy, he is still at school? If that is the case then he cannot be as powerful as Tom."

"But with the right training he can become more powerful than Tom and defeat him. Lily was a powerful witch, you know this, she was your last apprentice, and his father was an above average wizard as well. Harry comes from a good line, he is slightly undisciplined but he has a determination to survive."

"Be that as it may, he is still a risk. I'll be honest with you Albus, I am old, I am almost 650 years old, this is my 15th body and I am almost at the end of it and will require another one soon. I am tired, I just want to find the right apprentice to pass on my knowledge to so that I can die happy in the knowledge that all I have done and learned will not die with me. I do not want to waste my time with Lily's son if he is to face Tom and loses."

"Yes it is a risk, but it will be a risk with whoever you find and train. They could get into a duel and lose, they could contract an illness and not get the cure in time, there are hundreds of ways, natural and unnatural that can kill them. Harry is the most talented wizard I have seen in my time at Hogwarts, even surpassing that of Tom, I can guarantee that you will not find a more talented apprentice were you to look for another 650 years. The potential reward is worth the risk involved."

"I will concede that if he is anything like his mother then he will be talented."

"Come and meet him, talk with Harry and then decide but do not refuse him before you've even given him a chance."

"What has he said regarding this?"

"He does not know yet, I wanted to speak to you before speaking to him about it."

"That is typical of you Albus, controlling people from the shadows, making moves for them without their knowledge or permission. Who is to say the boy even wants to do it?"

"He will if I ask him to, after speaking to you he will see this as the opportunity it is."

"I will speak with the boy, but if I do decide to take him on it will have to be his decision, any hesitation or even a hint of persuasion from you then I am out, he must want this. This is all hypothetical of course, I have not yet agreed to train him."

"Of course, I will ask him to meet you and the rest will be between you two."

"Are you sure you are prepared for this Albus? Blood magic is considered dark magic and some of it is. I will not just teach him the 'good side' of it, I will teach him all of it as well as necromancy if he asks."

"I know but he is the only one who can defeat Voldemort, sometimes the rewards are worth the risk."

"You place too much stock in that prophesy Albus, but very well, as long as you are aware of the risks. Tom was not the first student of mine to go dark."

"And Lily wasn't the first to sacrifice herself for someone she loved."

"Very true. Now it is time for you to leave, I must make preparations to leave. I will meet you in your brother's pub at midday in three days time.

**-HP-**

Thousands of miles away from this meeting, in the suburb of Little Whinging, a boy sat at his window looking out as if waiting for something. This boy was Harry Potter and he sat at his window waiting for his snowy owl Hedwig to return, he had sent her of the previous day with a letter and was more than eager for a reply.

Harry turned away from the window and looked at his bed which had the Prophet from the previous day lying across it. He picked it up and read the front page for the fifteenth time.

**Wizengamot passes a vote of no confidence, Scrimgeour replaces Fudge as minister of magic.**

In a spectacular session of the Wizengamot a motion was put forward for minister Fudge to be replaced as minister of magic. The members of the council agreed that Fudge had let the general public down by refusing to accept that he-who-must-not-be-named had returned and for allowing death eaters to easily break into the ministry of magic. This is the first time in almost 150 years that a no confidence vote has been put forward.

With a vote of 47-3 Fudge was removed as minister and the Wizengamot then put forward names for an interim minister to replace Fudge for the remainder of his term in office. After several hours of discussion and several votes it was decided that Rufus Scrimgeour would serve as the new minister of magic until the election next May. The new minister vowed that he would actively search out you-know-who and his followers and swiftly bring them to justice. Continues on page 2.

Harry began pacing his room. He was bored, he had only been back a week and had spent the whole time in his room. During that week Harry had little to do but think. He thought back to last year, about his decisions and how he had been tricked by Voldemort, but most of all he thought back to how Dumbledore had ignored him and failed him yet again. He realised that Dumbledore didn't care about Harry or what he wanted, he only cared about keeping him under control and physically 'safe'.

The death of Sirius still hurt Harry and he blamed himself for falling for Voldemort's trick. Harry knew that he wasn't to blame even if he couldn't let go of some of it. Dumbledore knew about the prophecy and refused to tell Harry until it was too late. He also knew that Voldemort could get into Harry's mind but instead of helping him block Voldemort out he actively avoids Harry and leaves it up to Snape to teach Harry. Harry knew that professor Dumbledore trusted Snape but he also knew that Snape despised Harry. He should have known that Snape would not teach him properly and because of that he allowed Voldemort to place those images into Harry's mind. In Harry's opinion Dumbledore was as much to blame for Sirius' death as Bellatrix was.

Harry realised that he needed to get out from under Dumbledore's thumb and it was Remus' letter that arrived two days ago that got Harry planning an escape.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope your relatives are treating you well so far and that you are keeping yourself safe. We have just had an order meeting concerning you and I felt that it was best to let you know what was said. To be truthful Harry it did worry me slightly, even Moody was not pleased and he is Dumbledore's biggest supporter here._

_He found out about what a few of us said to your aunt and uncle when you got off the train and he was not pleased. He told us that we are not to harm your relatives unless it is clear that you are in great danger._

_I don't care what Dumbledore says Harry, if they so much as threaten to hurt you then you let either myself or Moody know and we will come. I know you are required to let the order know how well you are doing once a week but if there are any problems then please do not put it in that letter. I fear nothing will come of it if you do. Remember, let me or Moody know and we will be there._

_I was rather impressed with the coins Hermione made for the DA last year (yes we know about it) and so Moody created three coins. The one attached to this letter is yours. If you are in trouble then squeeze it and it will alert mine and Moody's. Ours are also portkeys and will bring us to your location when we activate them._

_Be safe Harry, and let me know if there is anything I can do for you._

_Your friend,_

_Moony._

That letter had pissed Harry off more than he realised. He was thankful to Remus and Moody and had taken to keeping the coin on him at all times. After reading that letter he began planning how to run his own life. He couldn't trust Dumbledore anymore. The first brainwave came the day after the letter in the guise of the Daily Prophet. As soon as Harry found out that there was a new minister he sent Hedwig off with a letter to him. Harry knew he would need the minister's help to help him escape Dumbledore's grasp and he just hoped that this minister was not as stupid as the last. Harry continued to pace the room; he knew that he needed a back up plan in case the minister was not willing to help. He thought long and hard about what he needed to do and the first thing was to find help. Moody and Remus were willing to look out for him but he doubted that they would help him with this. In fact he could only think of one person who would help him. "Dobby. Dobby can you hear me." Harry called out quietly.

With a small pop the elf appeared on Harry's bed and began jumping up and down excitedly. "The greatest wizard alive Harry Potter calls for Dobby, Dobby is honoured master Harry Potter sir." Dobby said rather loudly and excitedly.

"Dobby be quiet please, I don't want my aunt or uncle to hear you."

"Of course Harry Potter sir, anything Harry Potter wants." Dobby said in a quiet but excited tone.

"Dobby, I am in need of your help but I need to ask you a few questions first."

"Dobby would be very happy to help the great Harry Potter."

"Dobby please call me Harry and stop with the great. Ok, first, are you able to detect wizard's magic?"

"Of course Harry Potter sir."

"Can you tell me if there is any monitoring charms or tracking charms anywhere in the house?"

"There is a monitoring charm in the living room as well as sensor charms to detect if anybody is passing on both doors plus a tracking charm on you Harry Potter sir."

"Great, looks like the invisibility cloak is out, perhaps I could use a window. Dobby, are you able to transfer my tracking charm over to say my bed?"

"No Harry Potter sir. I can remove it but not put it somewhere else. Also Harry Potter does not need to climb out of windows; Dobby can take Harry Potter outside."

"You can apparate with me in tow?"

"Yes sir, Dobby can, it is tiring and Dobby can only do it maybe two times before needing a break but it can be done."

"Ok, that's great Dobby, are you able to get out of your contract at Hogwarts and if so would you be willing to come and work for me?"

"Dobby cannot believe the great Harry Potter wants Dobby as his house elf. Dobby would be honoured to be Harry Potter's elf. Dobby can stop working at Hogwarts whenever he wants and can be back tomorrow ready to begin working for Harry Potter sir."

"That is great Dobby, now how much would you like to be paid for the job?"

"Dobby likes being a free elf but he cannot charge Harry Potter. The honour of working for Harry Potter is enough for Dobby."

"How about I match what you get paid at Hogwarts plus all the knitting materials you need. Does that sound fair?"

"Harry Potter sir is too kind. Dobby is going to go back to Hogwarts to let Professor Dumbledore know he quits."

"Dobby, please do not let Dumbledore know that you are coming to work for me. Just tell him you found a family who was willing to pay you for your service."

"Of course Harry Potter sir."

As soon as he said that he popped away. Harry began to see his plan roll out in front of him and he was happy that the first step went so well. His happiness was short lived though as two owls appeared carrying letters and a package. He knew right away that neither was Hedwig but he opened his window to let them both in. The first he recognised as Errol, the Weasley's ancient owl and the other was an unknown owl. He removed the letters and package while offered them Hedwig's water dish which Errol accepted gratefully while the other owl just flew off as soon as its letter was delivered. He noticed that Errol had two letters as well as the package and decided to read them first. The first letter was from Ron.

_Hey mate,_

_How's things? Guess what, we are going on holiday again. I can't believe it; somehow mum and dad got the money together and was able to afford to take us all to Romania to see Charlie. I can't wait to see the dragon reserve although I'm not going anywhere near those dragons, I ain't mad. We are going to be there all summer which means we won't be able to see you until just before we go back to Hogwarts. We are returning on the 29th August. Ginny was not happy but mum said we are going and she would leave us there if we so much as moaned._

_I hope you have a good summer mate and hopefully you can find a way to get away from those muggles. I will let you know all about it when I get back._

_Ron._

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope that your family is treating you well and that you are keeping out of trouble. I know that you don't like it there but it is for your own protection and professor Dumbledore knows best. I'm sorry dear but you will not be able to come to the Burrow this year. Our house is not warded that well and Grimmauld place is closed to us until after Sirius' will reading. Because of that there is no safe place for us to have you this summer._

_Dumbledore being the kind person that he is has paid for our family to take a trip to Romania to see Charlie over the summer. He did this because of the lack of safe places for our family to live and he believes that if you-know-who cannot get to you then he will go after one of your friends. I have to protect Ginny and Ron and the best way to do that is to take them to visit Charlie for the summer. I hope you understand why we've done this. I tried to persuade professor Dumbledore to let us take you as well but he refused saying that you need to spend time where you are in order to charge the blood wards._

_I have told professor Dumbledore not to leave you there all summer and he has agreed to move you out of there just after your Birthday. If headquarters is still inaccessible at that time he has promised to take you to Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer. I'm sorry we will not be here dear but at least you will still have Hermione and I hope you get a chance to enjoy your summer. I know your family do not feed you that well while you are there, you are always so skinny after spending time with them, so I have enclosed a food package for you and hope that this can at least see you until your Birthday._

_Love_

_Molly_

Harry began once again pacing his room. He could not believe Dumbledore. He had just lost his godfather and not only does he lock Harry up at the Dursley's he takes away his best friend for the whole summer. He didn't blame Mrs. Weasley at all; she had to look out for her children first. Harry understood that any parent would do that and he was thankful to her for speaking to Dumbledore about moving him after his Birthday because he had no doubt in his mind that Dumbledore would leave him here. It's not like he could even talk to Hermione like Mrs. Weasley suggested because she was on holiday in Greece with her family until the beginning of August.

Resigned to the fact that he had no one to talk to this summer he plopped down on his bed. It was at this moment that he saw and remembered the third letter. He looked at the envelope and saw it had the Gringotts crest on it. He opened the letter and read it.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_You have been named chief beneficiary in the will of Sirius Black. You are required to attend the will reading on the 13th July at 10 am at Gringotts. If you cannot make this date and time then you will need to inform us of this and we will arrange for you to hear the will at a later date, note that even if you cannot attend the will it will still be read to those that are able to make it._

_Ripblade_

_Head of contracts and wills at Gringotts London._

If Harry had not been sitting down he was sure he would've collapsed after reading that. He knew it was coming but now that he had read it, he felt different, it felt so final, like it was guaranteed that Sirius was not coming back. He knew that Sirius was dead. He knew that he wasn't just going to walk in through the door but after reading the letter from Gringotts it finally sank in that he was never going to see Sirius again and for the first time since Dumbledore's office Harry laid down on his bed and let his emotions out as he cried himself to sleep.

**-HP-**

Harry woke up with a thumping headache which centred around his scar. Harry rubbed his scar with one hand while putting on his glasses with the other. '_Hmm, I guess Voldemort is up to something._' Harry thought. Harry sat up to find Dobby sitting at the end of his bed.

"Good morning Harry Potter sir." Dobby said excitedly. "Your Hedwig returned last night."

Harry looked over to his owl cage to find Hedwig sitting there looking at him. She hooted and nodded her head towards the desk before flying out to presumably go hunting. Harry walked over to his desk to find a letter with a ministry seal on it. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought the worst and expected a negative reply. He slowly opened the letter and his spirit was lifted after each word he read.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and that you are enjoying your holiday with your family. I must admit that I was quite surprised to receive your letter. I had asked Albus Dumbledore for a meeting with you and he said it was not possible because you wanted to spend your holiday away from the wizarding world and enjoy some peace and quiet as well as to come to terms with your godfather's death. I can now guess that you knew nothing about that and that it was just professor Dumbledore's wish for us not to meet._

_I can tell from what you've written in your letter that this meeting means more than you were letting on and that it is important to you that it happens sooner rather than later. I will admit that I am really busy, Fudge left a lot to mend at the ministry but I can put time aside for someone like you. I would be happy to meet you in my office at 9am on the 12th July. I know your house is not connected to the floo network so I will arrange for it to be connected for the morning. The connection to my office is a secure connection so all you have to do is step into the fire and it will bring you here automatically._

_I look forward to our meeting._

_Rufus Scrimgeour_

_Minister of magic_

Once Harry had finished reading the letter his headache had vanished and he was in a much better mood compared to the one he woke up in. He quickly wrote a note to Remus asking him to make sure that either he or Moody were on duty outside his house on the morning of the 12th and left it on the table ready for when Hedwig returned from hunting.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story as well as those that have it on their favourites list and/or follow the story. I did not realise how popular this story would be when I first began writing it. I also am sorry about the late update but I got banned from fanfic for a little while because of something 'offensive' I said in a review. Some people are too sensitive and have not humour. Anyway here's chapter 2, enjoy.**

-HP-

Remus sat in an empty classroom at Hogwarts reading the letter he had received from Harry. With Sirius dead and the Black ancestral house lock down until after the will reading the order had been relocated to Hogwarts for the summer period. Most of the order lived in their own homes but Remus was one of the few who accepted the offer of a room at Hogwarts. To Remus Hogwarts was the only place he ever felt comfortable calling a home. He had a small rundown and secluded cottage in the Welsh mountains which was perfect for his monthly transformations but even still, he had never liked thinking of it as his home.

Remus put the letter away as the door opened and Flitwick walked in with McGonagall. They were talking about something but Remus did not care enough to listen in on what they were saying. They took seats as the door opened again and Moody walked in. Remus signalled Moody under the table so that only he could see it thanks to his magical eye. Moody sat down next to Remus and was about to speak when Remus passed him the note under the table. Moody opened it up and used his magical eye to read it.

While Moody was doing this the rest of the order minus Dumbledore, Diggle and Snape walked in. After a few minutes Moody passed the note back discreetly and said nothing of it. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes while waiting for Dumbledore to turn up.

Dumbledore walked into the room and took his seat at the head of the table. "Ok let us begin the meeting." Dumbledore said.

"Are we not going to wait for Severus or Dedalus?" Flitwick asked.

"Who cares if Snape's here or not?" Emmeline Vance said before Dumbledore could reply.

"No he isn't, he is currently busy and Dedalus is currently on guard duty." Dumbledore said ignoring Emmeline's comment.

"First order of business is the werewolves. How did it go Remus?"

"I didn't get to meet with them Albus. The moment they saw me they opened fire and began attacking me. If it wasn't for Hagrid being there as well I do not think I would have managed to get away uninjured. He took more than a few cutting curses aimed at me."

"That is a shame but it is good to see that you managed to get out unscathed. So it is safe to assume they have allied themselves with Voldemort."

"No, I don't think so, not yet at least. They see me as a traitor and a lapdog of the ministry. They believe I've turned my back on what it means to be a werewolf. That is most likely the reason they attacked."

"I doubt it. I don't think they would attack you over a small thing like that. No, they have most likely joined Voldemort."

"Albus, there is no evidence to prove that. What if they are neutral? If we start treating them like the enemy then that could very well push them into joining Voldemort." Tonks said.

"You are right Tonks. We shall keep a close eye on them but we will not do anything to antagonise them. Moody, what has happened with the vampires?" Dumbledore asked.

"Voldemort sent six people to the three biggest vampire colonies on the mainland. As far as well can tell they are not joining him. They have not forgotten that he failed to live up to his end of the bargain during the first war. Only four of the death eaters returned. The vampire colony in France did not take kindly to the death eaters and killed them during the talks, we don't know why." Moody reported.

"They probably said something wrong and angered the vampires." Podmore said.

"Maybe, but in any case at least we don't have to worry about them joining Voldemort." Dumbledore said.

Dumbledore look around the table. "Now, the most important issue, Harry Potter's guard. I'm assuming that those currently doing guard duty are willing to continue?"

Everyone just continued to look at Dumbledore; they nodded their heads to show that they were willing to continue. "Good, I've written down the guard roster so that everyone knows when they are on duty."

With that Dumbledore pulled a stack of parchments out of his robes and they flew away and one landed in front of everyone who was willing to do guard duty. "I've tried to arrange it around the work schedules of those that are currently working. If you cannot do your allotted time then please let me know and I will arrange for you to swap with someone. Now onto the final order of business. Minerva I need you to watch over the wards upgrade for the castle. Aberforth will be there with you as he is doing some of the work. It will be completed over the next two days. I have a list of the upgrades for you here." Dumbledore said before handing a piece of parchment to Minerva.

"Headmaster, one those these upgrades, the animagus ward, while it will make the castle safer it will impede with my ability to teach NEWT level transfiguration." Minerva argued after scanning the parchment.

"I thought of that and there will be an exempt zone in your classroom. It makes casting the ward much more difficult but the defence of the castle should not restrict our ability to teach. I am aware you do not let your students practice human transfiguration outside of your classroom so the exempt zone should be enough to ensure you are able to teach your subject."

"Yes, that will be good enough headmaster."

"I will be unavailable for the majority of the next few weeks. If you need to get in contact with me then leave a message on my desk as I will be back and forth. If it is important then Alastor will know where I am at any given time. If there is nothing else then we will end the meeting here." Dumbledore said before getting up and leaving.

"We'll talk in my room." Remus said to Moody as they both stood.

They walked through the castle in silence. When they reached Remus' room Remus opened the door and Moody immediately began using his magical eye to search the room. "We are free to talk in here. He will not hear us." Remus said.

"How can you be sure?" Moody replied.

"He uses the portraits and house elves to spy for him within the castle. I removed the portrait he had in this room and I doubt he is as paranoid as you and will not send a house elf to spy on me."

"You are obviously not as paranoid as me if you believe that, but in any case this is most likely the safest place to speak in this castle."

"What do you think of the letter? Do you think Harry is in trouble?" Remus asked becoming worried.

"No, if he was in trouble he would have used the coin and not sent a letter which takes time to deliver. He probably has something planned for that morning and wants one of us there for it."

"What do you think it is?"

"I do not know Remus, but I am on guard duty the morning of the 12th so I believe I shall find out then."

-HP-

Dumbledore walked through the castle towards his office with a quick pace. Just as he was ending the order meeting he felt Severus entering his office. He knew that Severus had done nothing since entering the office since none of his other warning charms went off and even without the charms Albus knew that Severus wouldn't do anything until he arrived.

Severus was one of the very few people Albus trusted completely. Nobody understood why but then again nobody understood Severus like him. They only saw the façade that Severus liked to show and not the actual person that he was.

As Albus walked into his office he saw Severus sitting in a chair patiently waiting for him just as he had expected from Severus. "Severus, how was the meeting? Do I need to send for anything for you?" Albus said while sitting behind his desk.

"No, I am fine. The meeting did not go well, it troubled me. I do not believe I will be able to spy on Voldemort for much longer."

"Oh, why not? What happened?"

"Perhaps it would be better if I showed you instead of explaining it. Do you still have your pensieve?"

"Yes I do." Albus said while waving his hand and a cupboard opened before a pensieve flew out and landed gently on the table in front of them.

Severus put his wand to his head and a silver sliver came out of his head connected to his wand. He dipped his wand into the pensieve and stirred it. Once it was mixed in he signalled to Albus and Albus put his head into the pensieve followed almost immediately by Severus.

They appeared in a dark room. The room was bare except for a long wooden table in the middle of the room. At the head of the table sat Voldemort. He was slowly looking from one death eater to another, none other than Bellatrix and Severus kept his gaze when he looked at them. Around the table were his death eaters. Not all of them but these made up the inner circle. They were the more senior death eaters and they gave Voldemort's orders to the foot soldiers.

"Yaxley, how goes the operation?" Voldemort said after looking at each death eater in turn.

"The burrow was easy to access, they had a few poor excuses for wards up but we got through them in minutes. We burned the house to the ground but nobody was home. It seems the blood traitors have fled the country. We are currently trying to find their location so that we can pursue them." Yaxley reported.

"Do not bother. If they are out of the country then they are not a problem for now. We have more important things to take care of and we can deal with them at a later date."

"Of course my lord. We tried to access Potter's mudblood friend's house but there were powerful anti-magical wards up. We did a scan of the house but nobody was home and we learned from the neighbours that they were on holiday until the end of the month. We didn't bother trying to break through the wards seeing as it would have taken a lot of time and effort." Yaxley said while bracing himself for the coming cruciatus.

No curse came and he relaxed slightly. "Well done Yaxley, no point in letting the old fool know that we have compromised the girl's position. We will wait for her and her family to return and then kill them. What about the other targets?"

"We have not assaulted the other targets yet, we are arranging the teams so that we are able to strike them all at once. We will be ready to begin the assaults in two days time."

"Very well."

"What targets?" Albus asked Severus.

Severus said nothing but indicated that Albus should continue to listen.

"Rodolphus, report." Voldemort said, happy that Yaxley had said all that was needed.

"The dementors are still at Azkaban and are awaiting your signal to free your followers that are imprisoned there."

"We will initiate the breakout on the nights of the assaults. It will help to cause confusion on what is happening and thin the auror ranks giving us less resistance."

"Will we be going to the werewolves for help my lord?"

"Not yet Rodolphus, we will go to the werewolves when we have need for them. There is no use having the animals around when we do not need them, I despise their presence."

"Severus, did you get the list I sent you?"

"Yes my lord, the potions will take several weeks to make, I have all the ingredients, the only thing that worries me is that I have not made these potions before, I do not know what effects they have and only have the instructions you gave me to go by." The Severus sitting at the table said.

"I am confident in your abilities Severus. The first three potions will do nothing other than linger in a persons body but when you mix in the forth it becomes a powerful poison that will drain a wizard of their magic effectively making them a squib, although most die from the shock of losing their magic I am told. Once you have made the potions Severus I want you to give them to Dumbledore. I don't care how you do it, slip it into his drink, I am told you cannot taste the potions or even notice if they are mixed into a drink. Keep the forth on hand and give it to him when I tell you, it will effectively cripple him. Someone as powerful as Dumbledore will most likely not be made a squib but he will be weakened considerably."

"Of course my lord, it will be done."

"Now everyone leave. Wormtail and Yaxley, you two remain; there are a few things we need to go over."

The memory ended and Albus found himself and Severus back in his office. "Well that was enlightening. Do you know who the other targets are?" Albus said while sitting down and staring at Severus.

"Forget about the other targets. He wants me to poison you and when that doesn't happen my allegiance will be known."

"You will be safe Severus. You will need to leave him and come here to finish it off; you will be away from him when he figures it out. Now these other targets."

"I don't know who the targets are, I asked around but it seems that the only people who know the targets are Voldemort, Wormtail and Yaxley. Everyone knows they will be attacking someone but not who, the target's information will most likely be given out just before the attack is to begin."

"Care to wager a guess?"

"They managed to get to the houses of both of Potter's friends. My guess is that it will be the others who were at the ministry with him."

"Yes, that is a fair assumption. It worries me how they managed to get Miss Grangers address though."

"Probably through the ministry. The only two people who have access to her address at the school is you and McGonagall, and I doubt she gave it to the death eaters."

"That is what worries me, if they were able to get Miss Grangers address from the ministry, who elses did they get, they could have got the address of every student in attendance here."

"What can we do about it though?"

"Not a lot, we do not have the man power to watch every students house and we cannot move them all back to Hogwarts for the summer. We will send letters out to all students except those we know to be related to death eaters warning them about a possible attack. I will go and speak to Augusta as well. I will try and persuade her to move her and Mr. Longbottom away from their home for the summer. Miss Lovegood is not a problem; her father has taken her away to Sweden for the holidays."

"Are we going to warn the aurors about the breakout attempt in a couple of days?"

"Yes, I think we should Severus. We cannot allow those death eaters to rejoin Voldemort. I need you to go and speak to the other house heads and begin writing out letters to the family of those students in your houses. I am going to go and visit Augusta and inform her of our suspicions."

-HP-

Abaddon walked silently through quiet sleepy suburb of little Whinging. All the houses around him had their lights off and the only light came from the random street lamp as well as the glow from the moon and stars. He knew the time was about 2am seeing as he left Nepal at 6am and he had already spent an hour in England.

Abaddon wrapped his fur cloak around him. There was a small breeze on this night which would not affect the common man but where Abaddon's body was eating away at itself in order to maintain life he was more susceptible to the elements. It always amused Abaddon that whenever he got to the end of a life cycle he would become physically weaker but magically stronger. He had even spent one of his life cycles researching and trying to figure out why this happened and the closest thing he could come up with as an answer is that his magical core mixes with the host body's magical core and as the body is not originally he's own it has a resistance to his presence. As the body dies the resistance weakens which allows his own magical core to take over granting him more power.

Abaddon had considered trying to figure out how to allow his magical core to take control at an earlier stage but it was never a priority for him seeing as even in his most weakened state, right after taking control of a new body, he was still doing magic that could make as powerful a wizard as Dumbledore jealous. There was also the fact that with each body he has he become magically more powerful as when his magical core takes over the host body's at the end of a life cycle it absorbs the core giving Abaddon an increase in power equal to the power that that magical core had. At the beginning of each life cycle Abaddon would always joke about whether he's power finally matched Circe's although he knew he still had a long way to go until he reached the Goddess' power.

During each life cycle Abaddon would choose one area of magic to dedicate himself to and spent that life trying to figure out the mysteries of that path. He mused over this life cycle. At first he had not had an area of magic to research but after his last apprentices death he went and visited her child. He had seen Harry just before Hagrid had arrived. Abaddon was the first person to witness the result of the attack on the Potter household. He saw what Tom had done as well as the magic he left on Harry. This caused Abaddon to go down the path of researching soul bondage. He had travelled all over Asia using his home in Nepal as a base of operations.

He managed to find a lot of information about soul magic in India and managed to find out what Tom had down to Lily's son. He was surprised at first, he had assumed that Tom had learned an area of magic which Abaddon himself had not learned but the more he researched the more he came to suspect that it was accidental and that Tom had not meant to join his soul to Harry's.

As Abaddon approached Private Drive he wondered if Harry knew about the bit of Tom's soul that was joined to his own. Abaddon stopped just outside of the blood wards and smiled to himself. He was the one who taught Lily how to cast this particular bit of magic and she had done it almost flawlessly. He could see the few flaws in the wards but he knew that nobody other than himself would be able to see them; for all intents and purposes it was perfect.

Abaddon said a quick charm under his breath and walked through the wards as if they were not there. The benefit of having taught Lily how to create these wards was that he knew how to pass them. He felt around and could feel three magical presences. Two were disillusioned on the front Garden while the third was across the road sitting in an invisible tent. All three were continuously scanning the area although none saw Abaddon as he was using his magic to hide both his physical and magical presence. He guessed that these two groups knew of each other as they were beyond easy to find and did not seem hostile to each other.

Abaddon walked around the rear of the house and headed for the back door. Abaddon could sense the charm on the doorway; he reached out and also felt the one on the front door, living room and the several in the small bedroom. Abaddon had no doubt in his mind that he could walk through the door without setting the charm off but felt the need to lean on the side of caution and instead vanished the wall next to the door before walking through the hole and making the wall reappear. He silently walked through the house staying away from the living room and heading upstairs to the small bedroom. When he reached the bedroom he quietly opened the door and looked around.

He saw the little furniture in the room as well as the litter of sweet wrappers and parchments on the floor. Abaddon picked up the wand from the nightstand and a coin from under Harry's pillow before casting a silencing charm around the room and gently knocking Harry. Harry stirred slightly before grudgingly waking up. Abaddon took a good look at Harry and he was far from impressed. Here was the son of the greatest witch in the past 100 years of British history as well as the son of a noble pureblood and he was a skinny little thing in a cramped room. It confused Abaddon. He knew that Lily would have made sure her son was well looked after in case she died but that did not look like it from here. He was there when Lily wrote out her will and her husband was right there next to her. He knew deep down that her son should not be here. He knew Harry was financially stable enough to live in a manor house like any noble pureblood and he knew her son would have more than enough to feed himself properly, but the empirical evidence showed that that was not the case.

Harry had reached out to grab the glass of water from his nightstand and was oblivious to the intruder in his room. Abaddon waited, he did not want to startle Harry while he was drinking so he waited until Harry put his drink down before coughing. Harry surprised Abaddon with his speed. Harry reached out for his wand and when he didn't find it he dived under his pillow for his coin to signal Remus or Moody. All this happen in the space of two seconds. When Harry realised that both had been moved he slowly reached out for his glasses and put them on before looking at Abaddon.

"Hello Mr. Potter. Sorry about the late hour but I've just got into the country and thought it best that I visit you as soon as possible." Abaddon said.

Harry looked at Abaddon and realised that he could indeed be anyone. All Harry could see was a black robe covered by a fur cloak and a pair of piercing blue eyes. "It is polite to introduce yourself when talking to someone especially if you are in the person house uninvited." Harry managed to say when he spoke up.

"You are of course correct. Allow me to apologise, my name is Abaddon and I would like to first assure you that I do not mean you any harm. As you can see my wand is tucked away in my robe and I am giving you back your wand. All I want to do is talk." Abaddon said throwing Harry's wand onto the bed.

Harry picked up his wand as quickly as he could without trying to make it look like he was rushing. He thought about what the man said and if he had wanted to harm him then this Abaddon could have killed him while he slept. Harry thought about that name, Abaddon, he had heard it somewhere before but could not for the life of him remember where or when. Harry kept his wand in his hand and laid his hand on his bed but making sure that the end of his wand faced Abaddon, the words of Moody in his head, CONSTANT VIGILANCE! "So what is it you wish to talk about?" Harry asked still unsure of the intruder.

"Well your illustrious headmaster, professor Dumbledore, came and visited me in my home and asked me to take you on as my apprentice. I was unsure on whether to accept or not and when he mentioned that you did not know about his visit I said I would meet you to discuss it before I make my decision." Abaddon said deciding to give Harry the truth.

"Typical of him." Harry grumbled before speaking up to say. "Well I'm sorry he wasted your time but I do not want to be your apprentice."

"Already decided before even finding out what I will teach. You made your decision based on the fact that Albus asked me; your mother would be disappointed."

This caused Harry to flair up in anger. "What would you know of my mother?"

"I know more of Lily then you I'm willing to wager. I knew more about her than anybody save her husband. She was after all my last apprentice."

Harry recoiled in shock after hearing that and his anger all but dissipated. "She was your apprentice, why?"

"That would be a question only she could answer. I never asked why someone wanted to be my apprentice whenever I take them on; I only make sure they are willing to learn what I teach."

"And what is it you teach?"

"A great many things, but I am renowned for blood magic and necromancy."

"That is dark magic, why would she want to learn it?"

"There is no such thing as light or dark magic, magic is all about intent. That blood magic that you scoff at protected you as a child and still does."

"What about the unforgivables and the patronus charm?"

"The killing curse is not dark magic; it is just given that title because of the people that use it. The curse was first used to give those that were critically ill a painless death. If you had a painful and terminal illness, would you want someone to end it quickly and painlessly for you or would you rather the illness claim you? The imperius curse. Say a man is suicidal and believes that his loved ones are dead; you try and reason with him that they are not dead but in fact alive and he doesn't believe you. He goes to kill himself, you use the imperius curse on him to stop him killing himself and to follow you to his family where he sees that they are alright and his suicidal urges are gone. Would you consider that a dark use for the curse, I admit that it wasn't created for that purpose but that doesn't matter. All magic have their good uses and their bad, what makes them light and dark is how you use them."

Harry sat on his bed in quiet contemplation thinking about what Abaddon had said before asking. "Well what about the cruciatus curse?"

"Ok yes some magic is dark in nature, but the majority of it is neither dark nor light like blood magic. It is given the title of dark magic but the ritual that your mother used meant she had to sacrifice herself in order to protect you from harm while you grow up. It allowed you to grow up in a safe environment. Tell me, which dark wizard would sacrifice themselves for their child."

"It may have protected me from Voldemort and his followers to some extent but I wouldn't say it protected me from harm."

Abaddon was curious about Harry's comment. It was not a feeling he was used to. Curiosity at his age was something almost unheard of; then again someone reaching his age was as unheard of. "Tell me." He said to Harry.

"Why? What is it to you?"

"I am curious; it is not something I am used to. I would like to know what you mean by 'to some extent', the wards were almost perfect and it should protect you completely."

"To some extents it does. When I am in this house Voldemort and his followers cannot get to me or hurt me, but they didn't protect me from my uncle as I grew up and they cannot protect me from Voldemort when I am not here."

"But the wards are tied to you, they are the protection your mother gave you, they should protect you wherever you go."

"What do you mean?"

"I will make a deal with you Mr. Potter. You tell me your story and I will tell you why the wards should protect you at all times."

Abaddon created a warm fluffy armchair while Harry begun to tell Abaddon everything that had happened to him from the first moment he could remember in his life up to the incident at the department of mysteries. All the while Harry was talking Abaddon didn't say a word; he just listened intently to everything Harry had to say. There was more than one incident that surprised Abaddon but he didn't let it show. When Harry began speaking about the incident at the department of mysteries Abaddon could see the hurt and pain on Harry's face and in his words. He didn't comment on it and he waited for Harry to recover once he had told his tale to begin explaining things to Harry.

"Well Harry that is one interesting life you have lived. I guess it is my turn. These wards were cast by your mother, they were prepared weeks before she died and I know this because I helped her cast them, it is also why I was able to walk through them without setting them off. The wards were cast on you, they were linked to your blood, the blood that you shared with you mother. These wards should have not let anyone into them who had harmful intent towards you. Anybody who wished you harm and came within a few meters of you would have died rather painfully. I noticed that the wards surrounded the whole house and some of the neighbourhood when I first entered them and I had assumed that they had expanded as your magical core had, this is not an uncommon occurrence with personal wards placed on children, especially blood wards. I did not expect that someone had removed them from you and placed them on the house."

"So these wards were tied to me, I didn't have to live here?"

"No. Now once the wards were placed on this house they become slightly stronger for some reason that I cannot determine."

"Could it be because aunt Petunia lives here to?"

"Lily's sister, she lives here as well?"

"Yes."

"What do you know of the wards Harry?"

"Professor Dumbledore said that they protect me from Voldemort and that I needed to live here because this is where the wards were. He told me that my mum placed the wards here because aunt Petunia was her sister and it needed someone with her blood to keep it up. He also said that I have to return every summer to recharge these wards."

"Dumbledore was always an idiot when it came to blood magic. No, not an idiot, he would have needed to know some blood magic in order to transfer the wards from you to the house, but why? What possible reason could he have for doing that, and why here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ok, the wards do protect you from Voldemort, he got that right but it protects you from anyone who wishes to harm you and not just him. As for having to live here, you didn't. You could have lived wherever and the wards would have still protected you. Admittedly the wards are stronger because of Lily's sister's blood but they were weakened by stretching them from just protecting you to protecting an entire house, but even still, she is a muggle, the wards are not that much stronger because her blood has no magic in it. As for recharging the wards, that is rubbish, once cast a ward stays up until knocked down, there is no need to recharge a ward and I have never heard of someone ever doing it."

"So I never needed to live here?"

"No, as I said the wards would go with you. They cannot do that now because they have been tied to the house, even someone of my power cannot remove the wards from this house and place them back on you, the only person who could would have been your mother."

"How was professor Dumbledore able to move the wards to cover the house then?"

"Wards are unstable during the formation stage and can be moulded by someone with enough power. The blood wards are one of the most complex pieces of warding magic known and because of the complexity of it, it takes a while form. With these sorts of wards it usually takes about 24 hours to stabilise."

"But why would he tie the wards to this house if they offered better protection when tied to me?"

"Unfortunately I cannot answer that, only Albus can but from what I've seen and heard it seems that he has deemed it his job to control you and your life and mould you into what he wants you to become. He has a lot to answer for."

"He believes that I am the only one who can defeat Voldemort."

"Yes, he told me that as well, but be that as it may, if he had not messed with the blood protection your mother gave you then Tom would not have been reborn in that little ritual of his."

"So this is all professor Dumbledore's fault?"

"I wouldn't say that, we have to benefit of hindsight, he did not when he did this but he is somewhat to blame. Well Mr. Potter I have made up my mind. I am willing to take you on as my apprentice if you wish it. You are in obvious need of help and are not currently getting it. I will teach you all I have to teach as well as guide you and give you advice should you ever need or desire it."

"You are correct I am in need of help but while you have explained some things to me I still do not truly know who you are."

"You are correct, you do not really know who I am and nobody else does. People know what I show them and what I want them to see. Even the history books do not give a detailed picture of me as I have lived long enough to bend history to suit my own needs. I will make you the same promise I made your mother though. I will not answer all of your questions, I will not tell you everything about myself but what I teach you will help you and will be beneficial. I will tell you some things and you will know more than anyone else but everyone has secrets especially if you have lived as long as I have."

"I know this is a rude question but how old are you?"

"It is indeed a rude question but I shall answer it, I am 647 years old."

"How?"

"Through magic. It is not pleasant magic but will be something I shall eventually teach you if you become my apprentice, although I doubt I will teach you it for at least another three or so decades as it is one of my last secrets I will pass on."

"What exactly will you teach me?"

"I will be teaching you everything I have learned. All the 'normal' magic, blood magic, necromancy, soul magic, rituals, ancient magic from the Egyptian, Atlantian and Sumerian empires which are now almost completely forgotten. I will teach you how to harness pure magic and to do things only the wildest imaginations can fathom. As you can see what I can offer is a lot and it will take decades to learn it all completely and that is if you dedicate all your time for it. Like your mother I am willing to take you on part time per say in which you will be able to still go to school and be able to have a career and family afterwards if you so choose or you can dedicate your life to learning what I teach. I went down this path and it is rather lonely, not everyone can manage that. It is your choice Mr. Potter and before you make a decision I advise you to go and seek advice from people you trust. I will be meeting with Dumbledore to explain that I have seen you and to remind him that his interference in not wanted or welcome. After that I will be gone for a week as my body is almost dead. Your owl can find me when you have made your decision and I will come back to visit you then."

"Ok, I will speak to a few people before deciding and then owl you."

"I look forward to hearing from you Mr. Potter. I doubt it goes without saying at this point, but go to someone other than Albus for advice about me. He was the one who originally wanted me to accept you are an apprentice and will give you a biased view."

With that said Abaddon and his chair disappeared from Harry's room. Harry looked out of his window to see it was beginning to get light outside and he saw that the time was just gone 5am. Harry decided it was not worth going back to sleep and sat on his bed thinking about his visitor and who he would speak to.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I would to thank everyone who has read and reviewed this story, it is appreciated. And a special thank you to XxAkuXxXTenshixX, that PM was helpful and I will keep it in mind with future chapters.**

It was the morning of the 12th and Harry sat at his bedroom window looking out at the quiet street. It was almost 9am and he was waiting for Moody to turn up. The previous day he had received a letter from Remus mentioning that Moody would be on duty this morning and would come and see Harry at 9am. He sat there hoping that Moody would be early as he wanted him there when he spoke to the minister but knew that if Moody wasn't there when the floo connected he would have to leave him behind.

Harry thought about his visitor from a few nights ago. He was still trying to piece together everything the man had said and whether he could be trusted or not. There were some things that Harry just couldn't get his head around. He said he was 647 years old yet the only person Harry had heard of living that long was Flamel, surely the man would be as much of a living legend if he was really that old. Then there was the fact that he said he would be gone a week because his body was dying but that Harry would be able to reach him by owl once the week was up. Harry realised how smart the man actually was, he had given Harry enough information to make him curious but did not really answer any important questions about himself. All Harry knew about him was that he was dying, his age, his name and that he supposedly knew a lot of magic. Harry realised that that should be all he needs, he would speak to some people and try to find out some information on this Abaddon.

Harry was woken up from his musing by the sound of someone apparating onto the street. He looked down from the window and saw Moody walking towards the house. Harry sprinted downstairs and threw open the front door to greet him. "How am I to communicate with you if I am in trouble?" Harry asked.

Moody chuckled before replying. "By squeezing the gold coin you have, Remus and myself have ones as well which will inform us that you require help."

"Sorry Moody but I had to make sure."

"Don't be sorry Potter. Constant vigilance, although I am disappointed that you didn't have your wand out."

"But I do."

Moody's magical eye looked down to see Harry's wand barely sticking out from his sleeve and aimed at his stomach. "I assumed that you would be able to see through the door with the magical eye so I kept the wand concealed." Harry said grinning.

"Well done lad." Moody said before walking into the house and scanning it with his eye.

Once Moody was satisfied that everything was alright he turned both eyes to Harry. "So then lad, why did you want either me or Remus here this morning?"

"I have a meeting with the minister this morning and I wanted either you or Remus there with me during it."

"This was not bought up in the order meeting, does Dumbledore know?"

"No he doesn't and I would prefer it if he didn't find out. I do not trust him and at the moment the only order members I trust are you and Moony."

"There are others you can trust but it would be best to talk to Remus about that as I am not the most trusting person out there."

"This makes your suggestions on people I can trust even more appealing. If you of all people feel I can trust them then they must have done something big to warrant that trust."

"There are the Weasley twins; they would do anything for you without a moment's hesitation. Bill Weasley is probably the most trustworthy person in the order and even if he doesn't agree with you if you ask him to keep quiet he will. Filius is another, he is constantly arguing against Albus on his treatment of you. So you see Potter, there are some people who have your best interests at heart. Saying that, I believe the whole order has what they assume is your best interests but those four will listen to you and make a judgement based on what you say while the rest still see you as a child."

"That is why I have kept this meeting with the minister quiet, because I am not longer a child, I've got Voldemort gunning for me, I've faced death countless times and well, growing up here I doubt I've ever known what it is like to be a child. I've had to grow up out of necessity but very few see that. They are happy for me to face what I have to face but are unwilling to help me prepare. They say 'don't worry, let the grown ups deal with it' but it is me who deals with it. I am sick of it professor. I am sick of the order and their coddling, of Dumbledore and his lies, of the ministry and the public of their constant 'oh, Potter is a hero, he is a deranged teen, hero, deranged, hero, etc' but most of all I'm sick of falling into Tom's traps unprepared and getting out by the skin of my teeth."

"Well do something about it then."

"I'm sorry Moody, I don't mean to rant at you, it's just been building up inside me seeing as I've been here with no contact to anyone except yourself and Moony. I am going to do something about it though and that is what this meeting today is about."

With that said there was a whooshing noise from behind the blocked up fireplace that told Harry that the floo was connected. "Would you do me a favour and vanish the wall blocking the fireplace. The minister is waiting."

Moody walked into the living room and vanished the fire place wall. He told Harry to wait five seconds before coming through. He stepped through the fireplace and Dobby appeared when he had gone. Harry gave Dobby a slight nod and Dobby removed the tracking charm from Harry as he walked through the fire. Once Harry was through Dobby repaired the wall before disillusioning himself and apparating silently to Harry's side.

-HP-

Albus Dumbledore sat him in office. He was enjoying his first quiet day of the summer. He was happily looking over the new student applications while eating a lemon drop. It was one of his favourite parts of his job. When looking through the applicants he could see the magical potential of the children as well as see their faces when they first get a glimpse of Hogwarts. He missed going to the muggleborn student's houses to introduce them to magic. He used to do it every year but since the war started up again he had been too busy to make those trips. It made him sad that he couldn't do the visits as the look of surprise and glee on the children's faces when they first see magic brings him so much joy. It is a little unknown fact that his patronus is powered by the memory of those visits.

He looked down at the forms and sorted them into two piles, one of pure-bloods and half-bloods and a second pile of muggleborns who didn't know that they were magical. With a heavy heart he had sent copies of the muggleborn list to most of the staff for them to deliver the letters to the children personally while he wrote and sent the ones to those with parents who were witches or wizards.

He had just finished writing the first letter when a whistling sound from behind him grabbed his attention. One of the instruments on his shelf was spinning and whistling loudly, this indicated that his tracking charm on Harry had disappeared. Without a second thought he jumped up from his chair and ran down to the great hall where the order members who were staying at Hogwarts and didn't have to work today were most likely having a late breakfast. While running through Hogwarts he began going over possible reasons for the tracking charm to drop. The only reason he could think of was that Alastor had removed it seeing as the charm on the front door noticed him entering not fifteen minutes ago.

When Dumbledore reached the great hall he saw that there were only five people there. Remus and Tonks were sitting together quite closely and quietly talking to each other. On the other side of the table were Minerva and Filius with Kingsley who had just joined them. "Kingsley, can you go to Harry's house please. The tracking charm I have on him has just disappeared; he will be there with Alastor. Alastor entered the house twenty minutes ago and no one has yet left. I need you to reapply the tracking charm; we need to know where he is for his own safety." Dumbledore said in his normal calm tone.

"Of course Albus, I'll go and do it now." Kingsley said getting up from the table and walking out of the hall.

"Albus, you have a tracking charm on a student. This isn't good, what they do over the summer is none of our business and he doesn't need to be hounded down like a fox." Filius said.

"Filius, it is for his own protection, he is wanted dead by Voldemort."

"Surely if you feel fear for his safety at home then you would not have left him there."

"The blood wards will protect him from any death eaters or from Voldemort himself."

"You are not putting up a solid defence for this invasive breach of privacy on the boy."

"He could always leave the house and step outside the blood wards; we need to know when he does this so as to best protect him."

"Isn't that why you always have at least one person outside his house?"

"Yes, but with the tracking charm we can follow him even if we miss him leaving."

"I do not like this Albus, but he is not a member of my house, there is nothing I can do about this. If he finds out about this he will not be happy, it is a clear breach of his privacy and freedom. I'm guessing you know about this." Filius said turning to Minerva.

"Well some freedom must be lost if we are to properly protect him. It is all for the greater good." Albus said before Minerva could reply.

"I'm willing to bet that he will not see it that way should he find out." Filius said while getting up and leaving the hall.

-HP-

When Harry appeared on the other side of the floo he landed gracelessly on his face like he usually does. Before he could do anything Moody had grabbed him and pulled him onto his feet. Harry took a quick look around the room. It was rather plain which surprised Harry. The large wooden desk was situated in the centre of the room with a plush leather chair behind it and three rather comfortable looking chairs in front. The glass front cabinet behind the minister's chair was almost empty but contained a few certificates from the auror academy and a few medals for bravery. The only other thing that was in the room was a filing cabinet in the far corner and a weird green and red plant by the door. Harry looked up at the minister and other than his greying hair didn't really notice anything on the minister. Before realising it he had stuck out his hand towards the minister.

"Good morning minister. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

"I was happy to Mr. Potter, like I said in the letter I had wanted to meet you earlier but Dumbledore refused the request." Scrimgeour said while shaking Harry hand.

Rufus held his hand out to Moody as well but Moody just bowed his head slightly in greeting. "Well then, we are just waiting on one person before we start Mr. Potter."

"Please minister, call me Harry. Everything I hear Mr. Potter I expect professor McGonagall to appear."

"Of course Harry, and please call me Rufus."

There was a light knock on the door and Rufus waved his wand to open it. In walked a witch. She looked to be in her late forty's early fifty's although Harry couldn't give an estimate on how old she was. She wore a plain black robe with the DMLE logo on it. Unlike traditional robes which were put on over someone's head this looked more like a jacket or cloak as it was done up at the front. She had shoulder length brown hair which had started to go grey and he noticed that she didn't try to hide it like most people do. What interested Harry the most about her though was that her face held a firm look but if you closely enough at her eyes you could see that while it wasn't quite a façade she was kinder than she wanted to seem.

She stopped just inside the door and her navy eyes seemed to scan him before moving onto Moody and the minister. It is only then that he noticed her right hand came out of her pocket and he could see the faint trace of a wand on the outside of said pocket.

"Amelia, thank you for coming. Let me introduce you to Harry Potter, and you already know Alastor Moody." Rufus said signalling for Amelia to sit in one of the chairs.

"Hello Miss Bones. You're Susan's aunt aren't you?" Harry said politely while shaking her hand.

"Mr. Potter, it is madam Bones but please call me Amelia, and yes you are correct, I am Susan's aunt. I would like to thank you; she said she would not have been able to pass her defence OWL if it wasn't for you." Amelia said with a small smile on her face.

"Call me Harry. I only helped her; she was the one who did the hard work by putting the time and effort into learning those spells."

"I can assure you that she doesn't see it that way and I doubt the rest of your DA group would as well."

"Wait, you said she had passed her defence OWL, has she already received her grades?" Harry asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes, she received them yesterday. I was quite surprised as the results have never come back this early before but Griselda Marchbank, she is the head of the Wizarding Examination Authority, said she received a request from Albus to speed it up this year as he had a lot of work to do later in the summer and would not be around to forward the results off to the students."

"So professor Dumbledore gets the results and then sends them out to the students?"

"Yes that is correct. He adds the standard Hogwarts letter to it."

"Well that would explain why I haven't received my results yet then." Harry said more to himself than anybody else.

"No that wouldn't explain it, there is no reason you should not have received your letter. I would have though that Albus would want you knowing your results. I will bring it up with him when I next see him." Moody said.

"We will deal with that after the meeting." Minister Scrimgeour said while using his wand to pour tea for everyone minus Moody.

"I do not know how much you know so I shall start at the beginning. During the first war with Voldemort a prophecy was made with Professor Dumbledore as the witness. Professor Dumbledore is trying his hardest to keep the contents under wrap and away from Voldemort to the point of telling almost nobody it. Personally I don't see the point of hiding the contents of it seeing as Voldemort has already decided that it is me that the prophesy is talking about and I really cannot see what else he could get out of it. I don't mind telling you it as it will make going forward easier. It says: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." Harry stopped and drank a bit of his tea to give them time to let it settle in before continuing.

"Professor Snape heard the first two lines and ran off to tell Voldemort about it. That is why Voldemort has been after me and wants me dead."

"Do you believe this prophecy Harry?" Scrimgeour asked with a mixture of sadness and worry on his face.

"You know, you are the first to ask me that minister. To answer your question, I don't know. I do not trust the source of this prophecy but part of it has already come true with Voldemort giving me this scar. What I do believe and know though is that both Voldemort and Professor Dumbledore believe the prophecy. That is why Voldemort is actively searching for me and trying to kill me as well as why Professor Dumbledore locks me away at my aunt's house each summer."

"Yes it is fair to say that Voldemort does want you dead. What I am curious about is how you came to lose trust in Professor Dumbledore. I have always heard that you two were rather close."

"A few months ago you would have been right, although he has spent the past year ignoring and avoiding me. I have lost trust in Professor Dumbledore for several reasons. Every year he places me with my aunt and uncle for the summer saying it is for my own protection and the greater good. Well, one part of that is right, the other, not so much. It has only been this summer that I have been able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and see what he is really like."

Harry took a few seconds to compose himself because he could feel his anger rising. The minister and Amelia waited patiently, they guessed that whatever happened between Harry and Dumbledore was still a fresh wound and that it still affected him. He downed the last of his tea and took several deep breaths before continuing.

"When my parents died he took me from my home and placed me with my aunt and uncle. He was not my legal guardian, my parents left that responsibility to my godfather Sirius Black, and at that time he wasn't in Azkaban and had gone to my parent's house because he feared they had been betrayed. He saw Hagrid there holding me and wanted to take me but Hagrid said he had orders from Dumbledore to deliver me straight to him. He left me with my aunt and uncle who he knew didn't like my parents and he expected them to raise me properly. While growing up they beat me regularly, they did this to, in their own words 'beat the magic out of me'. They despised anything they didn't see as 'normal'. I lived in a cupboard under the stairs for the first eleven years of my life. I refuse to believe that he didn't once come and check up on me, if I really was so important why would he leave me and not look in every now and then? His excuse for this was that he wanted me to grow up outside of the wizarding world. This was not his choice to make yet he still made it."

"Harry, we have laws that protect children, even young wizards in muggle homes. Albus knows of these, hell he wrote them. As chief warlock it was his responsibility to check in on you to make sure you were happy and safe." Amelia said speaking up for the first time since sitting down.

"There was also the fact of the blood protection my mother left me. I have been told by someone who supposedly is an expert on the subject, as well as the person who taught my mum the magic, that the protection was put on me and would protect me from anybody wishing me harm. Dumbledore put me with my aunt and uncle and then removed that protection and placed it over the house. He explained that it was put there by my mum because my aunt shared her blood but that was not the case. There was no need for me to be there other than it is what Dumbledore wanted."

"Who is this 'expert'?" Amelia asked.

"He called himself Abaddon."

Harry could see the confused looks on Moody's and Scrimgeour's faces and the look of concern on Amelia's.

"I have heard of him and yes he is an expert but he isn't what you can class as a good person."

"He managed to get past the blood wards on my aunts house and right into my room. He could have easily killed me but all he wanted to do was talk. He trained my mum and is willing to do the same for me."

"We'll discuss this later but for now continue with the background info."

"Ok, as chief warlock Dumbledore could have given Sirius a trial, but he just let him get sent to Azkaban. A trial with a bit of veritaserum would have proven his innocence and then I would've been able to grow up with my godfather but that would go against Dumbledore's plan. Like I've mentioned several times already each summer he has put me back there. Between my first and second year they locked me in my room, they bolted the door closed and put bars up at my bedroom windows and fed me through a small flap in the door, right little cosy prison cell that was. If it wasn't for the youngest three Weasley boys coming and rescuing me I would've most likely stayed in there like that all summer."

"Wait a minute; they actually turned your room into a prison cell?" Amelia spat. She tried to hide the disgust and anger in her voice but failed miserably while saying that.

"In every possible way. The past two years have not been as bad as they could have been but that was because of several people threatening my aunt and uncle, something I might add that Professor Dumbledore was against doing. This year he sends me back there within weeks of my godfather dying and pays for my friend's family to go abroad for the whole summer. It was to keep them safe but they could have stayed at Hogwarts, the Weasley parents are both order members. So I have had to deal with the death of my godfather on my own without the support of my friends, and it is just laughable to expect sympathy from my aunt and uncle, they would have celebrated had they found out Sirius was dead. Sorry, I've kind of gone off on a tangent."

"Don't worry Harry. You obviously need to get this out." Scrimgeour said while waving his wand and the teapot refilled everyone's tea cups.

"It was also just after Sirius died that Professor Dumbledore told me about the prophecy, had he told me this earlier then I would not have fallen for Voldemort's visions and fallen into his trap at the department of mysteries."

At this point Harry had tears freely rolling down his face. He stopped talking, unable to say another word as it hit him that Sirius' death may have been avoided had Dumbledore been up front with him. Amelia gave his arm a gentle squeeze letting him know it was alright to let it out. They waited patiently for Harry to finish crying before Scrimgeour spoke up.

"Feel better Harry?"

"Not really, can we continue though?"

"Of course, so Voldemort can put visions into your head?"

"Yes, we are linked together, he can implant things into my head and I can feel and see him whenever he has a strong emotion. Professor Dumbledore arranged for Snape to give me occlumency lessons but he would just tell me to clear my mind and assault me with legilimency right away. He left me feeling weaker and weaker after each lesson. He said I was not trying hard enough to learn it but all he did was assault my mind without telling me how to block him. I managed to get off a protego spell one time which forced me to access his mind. He was furious at this and refused to teach me afterwards."

"So he didn't get you doing mental exercises for an hour before each lesson? He didn't give you reading material or show you how to create the proper shields? He just got you standing there while he mind fucked you every lesson." Amelia was practically seething at this point and Scrimgeour noted that if she squeezed that chairs handle any harder then she would shatter it.

"Wait, so what he did was completely wrong?" Harry almost yelled showing as much anger as Amelia was at this point.

At this point there was a knock at the door and a small plump witch entered followed by a patronus. The patronus flew over to Moody while the witch turned to Scrimgeour. "Mr. Scrimgeour your 10am appointment is here." She said professional while ignoring everything else in the room.

"Rearrange it for this afternoon and cancel the rest of my afternoon meeting please Monica." Scrimgeour replied without looking up at her.

Harry faced Scrimgeour. "If you have another appointment I can come another time minister, I don't want to take you away from important business." Harry said as the witch closed the door.

"Nonsense Harry, this is important and the broomstick flying regulations can wait for a few hours."

Scrimgeour wasn't about to tell Harry that he was meant to be meeting with the Hogwarts board of governors as he might think it too important to skip. Luckily for him Harry accepted the lie without question and sat back down.

"Well it seems Albus knows we have left your house Harry." Moody said as the patronus disappeared. "He is requesting to know where we are and that we return immediately."

"Damn, I was hoping he wouldn't have found out until we returned."

"If you had told me about the tracking charm then I could've moved it to another object instead of shutting it down and he wouldn't have found out at all. How did you remove it?"

"My house elf did it."

"Well Albus can wait." Amelia said. "Now where were we, yes Professor Snape. It was like he didn't want to teach you occlumency and just used that time to mentally abuse you. He didn't do anything he was meant to in teaching someone the art and seeing as he is a master occlumens and legilimens he would know what he was meant to do in training you."

"Is there anything else you would like to add Harry?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Yes, Dumbledore could have taught me it himself but he wanted to give Voldemort the impression that we were not close even though anyone could have told him different. I am sure there are more than two occlumens in the world and that he could've got a proper tutor for me but he somehow felt that someone who hated me should teach me how to defend my private memories and thoughts from intrusion." Harry replied still trying to digest what Amelia had said.

"Right, shall we get to the points of why you wanted this meeting. You expressed a wish to be emancipated."

"That is correct. With Voldemort after me I feel that I need all the time I can get to train myself to be able to properly defend against him."

"Train yourself?"

"Yes, it has become evident to me that the only way I am going to learn anything worthwhile is if I teach myself. Professor Dumbledore has had five defence against the dark arts teachers at Hogwarts since I've been there. The first was a stuttering fool who had Voldemort hiding under his turban. The second was a fraud who could only manage to perform a memory charm. Admittedly the third was rather good and it was from him that I learned how to produce a patronus charm. The forth was a death eater, although he was an able teacher and the fifth was a useless toad who believed if we knew the theory then we would be able to perform the spell."

"You are talking about Dolores Umbridge correct?"

"Yes, but please do not get me started on her. You do not want to have to listen to me go on about her after Professor Dumbledore and Snape."

"Actually I would like to hear what happened to her, she is in St. Mungo's at the moment but is rather incoherent and Dumbledore is not very forthcoming with what happened regarding her last year."

"The short of it is: She would not teach use how to do spells only have us read about it from a book. She gave me plenty of detentions where she had me write 'I must not tell lies' with a blood quill. She tried to give me veritaserum to tell her where Professor Dumbledore was hiding. She almost used the cruciatus curse on me and then while in the forbidden forest she was stupid enough to insult the centaurs. Not the best teacher we've had."

"Excuse me?!" Amelia said wondering if she had heard right.

"Amelia." Scrimgeour said before the head of the DMLE could act on what she heard.

"Rufus, she used a blood quill and the cruciatus curse on students. Not to mention feeding Harry veritaserum."

"Actually she didn't use the curse on me; she was about to when she got interrupted. Also she technically didn't give me veritaserum, she put it in the tea she gave me but I didn't trust her enough to drink it so I pretended to and poured it into a plant when she wasn't looking. But yeah, I've still got the scars from the blood quill."

"In any case, she will stand trial for this should she ever recover from whatever happened to her in the forbidden forest. Should that happen Harry you will need to stand as a witness but we shall discuss this closer to the time."

"Ok sir, where was I, oh yes, DADA teachers. On top of those Professor Dumbledore was willing for me to teach other students in the DA club which as Amelia mentioned, Susan said it was because of the club that she was able to pass her DADA OWL. Voldemort first appeared at the end of my first year, Professor Dumbledore has known about him since then, if not before, but considering he knew that I have to face him he has not bothered training me one bit to do it. So yes, I believe I will have to train myself and that is why I want to be emancipated, not to mention it means I will be out from under Professor Dumbledore's control and be able to leave my aunt's and uncle's house."

"Well Harry, unfortunately I cannot grant emancipation, only your legal guardian or the Wizengamot can and seeing as Albus is chief warlock I do not see it happening. What I can do is remove the restriction of underage wizardry from you enabling you to be able to perform magic which should be a little help especially if you do not let people know about it. The main reason I asked Amelia to sit in on this is because she has offered to give you a condensed auror training course and help you to prepare."

"While it will not give me as much freedom as I had hoped it will help me a lot. Thank you minister."

"Also Harry. I know Sirius was the last of the Black family line and most likely left most to you. While I do not know what he left you or if he even left you anything. If he made you head of the Black family then you will be emancipated. All of the older pureblood families have it stipulated that the head of the family must be considered an adult in the wizarding world, that means they had to be emancipated if they were under age. Speaking of which, the Potter's should have had the same thing seeing as they are an older pureblood family than the Blacks." Amelia said.

"I do not know what Sirius left me in his will, the will reading is not until tomorrow, but if what you say is true and he did make me head of the Black family then there is still hope."

"While we cannot emancipate you I can promise you that you will not go back to your aunt's and uncle's house. From what you have told me there has been enough physical and emotional abuse going on there for years and as the head of the DMLE I have the power to and am placing you in protective custody pending a formal investigation."

"Very well Amelia, you have the power and right to do that, but where will Harry go? Usually in these circumstances the child will stay at a Hogwarts but considering his relationship with Albus that might not be a good idea." Scrimgeour said.

"He can stay with me. I have more than enough room and I am sure Susan would not mind having another friend around her."

"Are you sure ma… Amelia? I could always stay at the Leaky Cauldron. Also, what do you mean another friend, do you have multiple students living with you?"

"No, Albus was right about one thing, you do need protection, and I can provide that at my house but not at the Leaky Cauldron. You would be an easy target for Voldemort there and no, I don't have multiple students living with me." Amelia laughed. "But Susan has her friends Hannah Abbot and Neville Longbottom around almost everyday."

"Thank you, I appreciate this."

"Anything else you would like us to discuss Harry?" Scrimgeour said while getting ready to finish the meeting.

"No, the rest I believe I need to bring up with Gringotts… Actually there is one thing. You said you were going to train me Amelia."

"Yes that is correct."

Harry turned to Moody. "Professor, would you be willing to help train me as well?"

"Of course lad."

"I am also going to ask Professor Flitwick for his help. He was my head of house when I was at Hogwarts and has proven himself time and again to be an excellent dueller." Amelia added.

"You were in Ravenclaw? I expected you to be a Hufflepuff like Susan."

"No, Susan's parents, my brother and his wife were both in Hufflepuff but I was in Ravenclaw."

"Hmm ok. Minister Scrimgeour, thank you very much for this meeting. I appreciate everything you have done for me."

"It was my pleasure Harry. Amelia, it is always a pleasure." Scrimgeour nodded while getting up from his desk and opening the door for them. "The restriction on underage wizardry will be removed by the end of the day Harry, so to be safe I would wait until very late tonight or tomorrow before you start using magic."

"Thank you minister."

"Now Harry let us head to your aunt and uncle's house. You can pick up your belongings while I inform them about the investigation as well as have a little chat with Albus." Amelia said and after seeing the look of worry sweep across Harry's face she added. "You do not have to speak to any of them if you do not wish to."

"Thank you."

"Alastor, will this put you in a vulnerable position? I know you are in Albus' order. Turning up with me while I am removing Harry from that home may not work in your favour."

"It is fine. I know what I will be saying to Albus and he will most likely like it as much as what you've got to say." Moody said while walking out of the minister's office.

The three of them walked through the ministry towards the apparition point. They got quite a few stares from the common folk. It was not often that the head of the DMLE, the most famous retired auror and the boy who lived walked through the ministry together and it got people talking, within a few hours most of magical Britain will have heard of it.

They reached the apparition point rather quickly as while people stopped and stared at the three figures they also all moved aside to let them pass. Amelia turned to Harry. "Harry, we will be apparating to your aunt's and uncle's house, have you ever apparated before?" Amelia asked.

"No I haven't." Harry replied while thinking about the other forms of magical transport and not looking forward to it.

"All you need to do is keep hold of my arm. It will feel like you are being pulled through a thin tube but the feeling will only last a second and we'll be on the other side. Take a deep breath before we go as you cannot breathe while in transit." Amelia explained.

Harry followed her advice and once he had done that Amelia apparated with Harry holding onto her. It lasted a second and Harry opened his eyes to see number 4 private drive in front of him.

"How was that Harry?" Amelia asked.

"I have yet to experience a form of wizarding travel that I enjoy… save flying of course."

"Don't worry, you get used to it after a while, hurts like hell when you splinch though."

"Splinch?" Harry asked confused while Amelia walked towards number 4.

"It's what happens if you do not apparate properly, the witch or wizard will usually leave a part of themselves behind. It is rather painful but relatively easy to fix, it can sometimes be fatal though. I've known of one person who left their head behind, it was reattached to the body as few hours later when it was found but it was too late by then to save him. Don't worry though; it is usually an arm or leg that is left behind. Shall we go in?" Amelia asked deciding that Harry need not be scarred at the prospect.

Amelia went to knock on the door before Harry told her not to bother and just opened the door and walked in. Harry walked into the living room and it was as he expected. Dumbledore was sitting in the armchair with an order member (Shacklebolt) standing next to him while his aunt and uncle sat on the sofa. Vernon was purple and looked like he would burst if he got any angrier.

"YOU BOY! YOU GO RUNNING OFF CAUSING THESE PEOPLE TO TURN UP AT MY HOUSE, I WILL BE HAVING NO MORE OF THIS!" Vernon yelled as soon as he saw Harry.

"Mr. Dursley please sit back down and keep your voice level." Dumbledore said from the chair he was sitting in. "Harry, I am disappointed, I thought you realised how important it was that you stayed here."

"So Albus, are you saying that he is not allowed to leave his own home?" Amelia said walking into the living while Moody closed the front door.

"Amelia, what are you doing here?"

"I am here as a guest of Harry's. What are you doing here Albus?"

"I have come to check up on Harry."

"Funny, this is the first time that you've come to check up on my Professor." Harry said with a questioning glance.

"Harry, I have always come to check up on you periodically since you were left here as a baby."

Anger flared up in Harry and everyone felt as if a weight had been placed on top of them. Amelia and Dumbledore seemed unaffected while Moody and Shacklebolt were slightly surprised by it and the Dursley's were afraid. Amelia placed her hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"So Albus, How regularly did you check up on Harry while he was growing up?" Amelia asked curiously.

"I do not see what that has to do with anything Amelia."

"I was just curious, considering Harry grew up in a cupboard I was just wondering if you were lying just now or were privy to his abuse."

"Abuse! What lies have you been telling this woman Potter?" Mr. Dursley said getting out of his chair again.

"Sit down Dursley. I will get to you in a minute." Amelia said forcefully causing Vernon to fall back into his chair.

"Only the truth uncle Vernon, from the years in the cupboard to trying to beat the magic out of me and turning my room into a prison cell."

"Now see here one minute…" Vernon began saying before the angry look from Amelia shut him up.

"Harry, why don't you go and pack your things." Amelia said in the calmest voice she could manage.

"Wait Harry." Dumbledore said as Harry went to leave the room. "Why would he pack his trunk Amelia?"

"Go on Harry. He is packing his things because I have placed him in protective custody pending the result of the formal investigation into the abuse he suffered here."

"He cannot leave, the blood wards have not fully charged."

"Really, because according to Abaddon the wards don't need charging. You know who he is; he said that it was you who approached him about taking me on as an apprentice, funny how I knew nothing of it until he told me." Harry said before departing up the stairs to his room.

"The blood wards are not my concern, Harry's safety on the other hand is." Amelia said to Dumbledore.

"The safest place for him is here."

"Really, from what he has told me he is far from safe here."

Dumbledore gave a sigh as he knew Amelia would not let up and he would not win this one. Dumbledore did not give up though; he still had a few tricks up his sleeve that he could use.

"Then why are you removing Harry and not his aunt and uncle?"

"WHAT?!" Mr. Dursley again shouted but this time instead of glaring at him Amelia just put a silencing charm over him so he couldn't talk.

"Because Harry has not decided whether he is going to press charges or not."

"Then why are Mr. and Mrs. Dursley being investigated."

"While Harry may not press charges he is not happy with them as his guardians and does not feel safe here, which is why they are being investigated."

"So he will be coming back to Hogwarts with me then?"

"No, he feels as safe with you as he does here and does not want to go to Hogwarts. He expressed a desire to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer but I persuaded him that he would be safer staying with me then there."

"This is highly inappropriate Amelia. Whenever a child has been removed from their home for their safety they have always gone and stayed at Hogwarts."

"True but it is not as inappropriate as placing a tracking charm on a child from your school whom you are not a guardian of."

"It was for his own safety."

"It is also illegal, and I do not doubt for one minute that you do not know that seeing as it was a part of a law you passed. Is it as inappropriate as placing a child with muggles when it was expressed by his parents that his godfather was to be his guardian?"

"Sirius Black was in Azkaban at the time and considered a criminal."

"He wasn't when he turned up at the Potter's house to see it in ruins and Rubeus Hagrid refusing to hand Harry over to him because you said Harry was to be taken to you."

"I was told he was the Potter's secret keeper and did not want to give Harry to who I thought was a death eater."

"Yet you still placed him here bypassing all of the normal ministry processes."

"It was for his own safety."

"Great job you did putting him someplace safe."

At this point Harry came downstairs with his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage. He looked around at everyone and saw the tension in everyone's face.

"I'm ready." Harry said while moving to stand next to Amelia.

"Mr and Mrs. Dursley." Amelia said while removing the silencing charm. "If it is found that Harry has suffered abuse by you then we will try you to the full extent of our laws."

"Amelia, they are muggles, they cannot be tried under our laws." Dumbledore said.

"Yes they can."

"We have not put any laws into effect that allows for a muggle to be tried in a wizarding court."

"We haven't but the ICW created a law almost twenty years ago which allows for muggles to be tried if they are parents or guardians of a young witch or wizard and if the criminal offence involves said young witch or wizard."

"That law is meant for if the young witch or wizard commits a crime and is not of appropriate age to be tried themselves."

"True but the wording of it also indicates that they can be tried if they commit a crime on the young witch or wizard, just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean these people cannot be tried under that law."

"What? We took that boy into our home, gave him a roof and clothes and this is how he repays us." Vernon said.

"I do hope 'this boy' as you so affectionately put it does decide to repay you for all the love and hospitality you have shown him. We will be in touch." Amelia said with no hint of wanting to hide her contempt at them while waving her wand. "I have put tracking charms on both of you, if either of you attempt to go within five hundred meters of an airport or the coast then you will be apprehended and placed into a ministry cell."

"If you take them to court and IF they are found guilty then what? Will you place them in Azkaban? You know muggles would not last a month in there with the dementors." Albus said while feeling a little defeated and showing his age.

"No, they would be held in a ministry holding cell until we are able to sort it out with the muggle authorities for them to go to a muggle prison. Child abuse is a very serious crime in both worlds and I have no doubt that they will comply with our request." Amelia replied full of confidence.

"And who will represent them? A muggle lawyer cannot and they do not have access to magical ones."

"I honestly do not care Albus, you can if you want, as head of the Wizengamot you can demand this or they will be provided with one by the ministry when a court date has been set."

"Who will preside over the court if I am to defend them?"

"I do not know, none of the details have been set seeing as we are not taking them to court yet and are only investigating but know this, because of your involvement you will not be presiding whether you decide to help them or not. You are too close to the case to be professionally detached."

Amelia waved her wand and shrunk Harry's trunk and owl cage before putting them into one of her pockets.

"Shall we go Harry?" Amelia said holding out her arm for him to grab.

"Just one more thing." Harry said walking into the living room. "I would like you to send me my OWL results professor."

"I didn't want to send them by owl in case it got intercepted and planned to give it to you when I next saw you."

Harry held out his hand for the professor to give him his results.

"I don't have them on me Harry; they are in my office at Hogwarts."

"Well seeing as I doubt I will see you before the start of term I would appreciate it if you gave them to Professor Lupin to give to me. He will be seeing me tomorrow at Sirius' will reading."

Without waiting for a reply Harry returned to Amelia and grabbed hold of her arm. "Harry read this." Amelia said handing Harry a piece of parchment.

_Bones manor is located on Down Lane, St Neots, Cambridgeshire._

"Fidelius?" Harry asked and Amelia nodded while taking back the piece of parchment.

"Do not think I have forgotten about you Kingsley. You should not be here; we will discuss why you are here this afternoon when we are both in the office." Amelia said before apparating away with Harry.

"Well that went well Albus." Kingsley said while shaking his head and walking out of the house followed closely by Moody.

**A/N: I was planning on adding an Abaddon piece to this chapter but seeing as it is already 18 pages long I thought it might be a bit too much and have decided to add it to the next chapter instead. I must admit I am a little surprised with how well Abaddon has been accepted by readers. I love his character but I expected there to be some resistance to a character that greatly out powers all other characters in the HP verse. I am very pleased that he is a hit and apologise for not adding him this chapter. **

**Next chapter will focus on Abaddon, Dumbledore and Voldemort as well as introducing the HP/SB relationship that I have decided upon for this story although it will be just friendly and nothing serious at first.**

**As always I have no beta so just myself checking my work so it is not perfect and any mistakes bought to my attention will be greatly appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story and a special thank you to Katzztar, it seems I have made a bit of a booboo with this story. I mentioned that Abaddon was over 600 years old and that Harry knew of no one living that long. I was mistaken, Flamel and his wife are both over half a century older than 600… my bad. Thank you for pointing this out, it has now been corrected.**

**Sarah-rose76646: I cannot agree with you more. I have read a few decent stories in what you ranted about but I agree that most ruin it because of those points. Do not worry about the overly mushy emotional crap as you put it. They will have a relationship but I cannot stand the mushy crap so there won't be much of it in this story.**

**Buzzbumble: Yes and yes. Every few chapters I will be including a background piece of Abaddon like I have done in this one and one of them will cover how Lily became his apprentice.**

**Dr Stranger: Thank you, the message to my review reply was helpful and I have taken in what you said.**

**As always I have no beta so any mistakes bought to my attention is helpful to me. Thank you all for reading and enjoy.**

Abaddon was back in Nepal working in the lab of his monastery. Several weeks ago he had contacted the magical equivalent of the Mafia in Italy and arranged for them to send a magically strong person for him. He had done this multiple times over the years. As he got older he got bored with hunting the perfect target for himself and outsourced the job to other 'agencies'. He tried to vary his dealings so that he didn't use one group too much and end up having to rely on them too heavily. He usually went to South America for people but he had been there for the last few bodies and decided on somewhere new.

Everything went well at first, magical slavery is a dying trade and really hard to find outside of South America but he was offering a lot for a strong host. He didn't tell them why he wanted the person so the 'agency' he used had assumed a few things and assumed them incorrectly. Abaddon knew he should've been more precise with his requirements and told them it was for a blood magic ritual involving possession but it was too late to worry about such things.

Abaddon looked down at the Italian girl lying on his workbench. He was coming towards the end of the body's life and didn't feel anything near sexual attraction but he knew that when he got his new body it would be swimming with hormones and he would feel it again. He looked at the girl and felt something stir in him that hadn't shown itself in many years. The girl on the table was no older than 21 but she looked exactly like his dead wife Elizabeth. Her long dark hair lay underneath her sprawled out as if she was floating in water, her pale skin in direct contrast with her hair was beautiful to him. If he was anybody else he would feel bad about what he was going to do to her and may even hesitate but love while not lost on him was not something he ever embraced since he had lost his wife all those years ago.

It was the most painful moment of his life but it was the catalyst that sent him down the path he was on. It humoured him somewhat that most people turn to the dark arts out of the need for power and greed where he did it out of love, or revenge depending how you looked at it, and where all those greedy, power hungry people failed he had seceded. He was the most powerful dark wizard since Morgana herself and like her he went down the path because of the need to avenge a loved one.

He remembered the day clearly; it was burned into his memory for eternity. Elizabeth was a powerful witch, more powerful than Abaddon himself. She could only be described as an angel, she never used her magic to hurt people and even in self defence she refused to do permanent damage. It was this mindset that eventually led to her death. She was a healer by trade although this was before there was the actual job of healing. They lived in a small village and she healed the sick, charmed farmer's crops so that villagers never went hungry, cleaned water supplies, etc.

This was when 'witch burning' was a somewhat common practice and before the statute of secrecy was created and Elizabeth was very careful about hiding her magical ability although the local community knew and while witches were treated with fear and mistrust she had proven herself to their village and because of the beneficial things she did for the village they ignored the fact that she could do magic. Although they were polite to her and treated her with respect they were distant and it couldn't be said that she had any friends there. They were less friendly to Abaddon and some were even hostile towards him. They didn't know he was magical, him and Elizabeth hid that from the village, they just thought he was a normal person who had forsaken a normal life in order to shack up with a witch.

One day the lord of the small county where they lived called on Elizabeth for assistance. His eldest child and only male heir had become deathly ill. Elizabeth tried with all her magic to heal him but magic could only go so far and she was unable to heal him. She relieved him of his pain but informed the family that she couldn't save him and that he had mere hours to live. The lord had seen her work her magic before and he had never witnessed her failing to heal someone, the fact that none were ever as ill as his son was completely lost on him. He took this as an insult to him and his family and surmised that she held a grudge against him and was taking it out on his son. He then accused her of being the one to make his son ill and one of his guards knocked her out. They took her wand away and snapped it before tying her to a stake and burning her alive once she had awakened from her unconsciousness.

While this was happening Abaddon was at the local farm buying a few supplies for his wife's famous, in his eyes, stew. As he was walking back home through the village he saw the pyre and his mind so transfixed on the stew that it didn't even occur to him that it wasn't normal for a pyre to be lit during the day. As he got closer a few of the villagers who hadn't shunned him ran up to him and tried to persuade him to take a walk with them. It was then that the cogs in his brain began working and he begun putting two and two together. He ran forward and pushed the villagers out of the way but it was already too late. She had been burning for too long and was beyond saving.

Her death was a mistake that the villagers would not live to regret. He whipped out his wand and summoned a load of water to put the fire out. Once it was out he just knelt by her body cradling her charred remains in his arms. Since meeting Elizabeth he had been a friendly person even to those that were less than friendly to him but he had a darkness inside of him that Elizabeth had helped him repressed, it was one of the many reasons he had fallen in love with her, and now that she was dead that darkness began to surface again. He knew what he needed to do, he also knew that Elizabeth would never want him to do it but he couldn't shake the feeling away. The anger that boiled inside was ready to burst. He pointed his wand at the priest who had more than likely given her the spew about her being Godless and that God would judge if she was worthy or not as well as the man standing next to him who Abaddon had rightly guessed had lit the pyre. Two explosion hexes flew out of his wand and blew the pair in half.

He then turned on the villagers and demanded answers as to why they did this to her. It didn't take long for people to explain that it was the lord of the land that had ordered it after accusing her of making his son ill. He asked why nobody had helped her and he got very little in response but one person foolishly said if she had made the boy ill then she deserved what she got. The person didn't get to finish what they were saying before Abaddon sent an incendio at him and burned the person alive just like they had done to his wife. He accused them of cowardice and felt sickened that after everything she did for the village nobody felt any need to show mercy on her or even to let her explain her so called actions. No, they took the lord's word as gospel. He burned the village to the ground. He killed them all, the men, women, children, animals; anything that had lived was dead when he was done.

Once he was done with the village he went to the lord's manor house. He killed the few guards that the man had before finding him sitting at his now dead son's bedside. Abaddon didn't give the man time to explain or grieve. He grabbed him and took him outside, he then immobilised him before grabbing the rest of the man's family. He made him watch as he burned alive one family member after another. He started with the man's wife, then his eldest daughter before finishing with the man's baby girl. Once that was done he burned down his house with the dead son inside. It was well into the evening when he had finished and turned to the lord who had had his wife executed. He was not quick or pleasant with what he did to that man and once he was done he felt nothing, no anger, no love, no righteousness, no shame, nothing. He was numb.

He moved on to the next village and did to them what he did to the first; he burned it to the ground and killing everybody that lived there. The third village had a magical family living in it and when he killed everyone in that village he spared them. It was his first act of kindness since Elizabeth had died although he didn't see it as a kindness; all he said when they asked why was that they were magical so they were not responsible.

Word eventually got around about him within the scattered magical communities and he found himself with many followers all eager to do to the muggles what was being done to magical people on an increasing basis. He cared not for them and ruled them with an iron fist. He installed fear in everyone he met and established the legend of the grim reaper. It took many years and tens of thousands of dead muggles before he finally stopped killing them indiscriminately and begun his study. He focused on necromancy and blood magic in the hopes that one day he would be able to bring Elizabeth back. In the end it was with a sense of irony that he realised that he could extend his own life indefinitely but there was no way to fully bring her back from the dead. There were rituals he could do on what was left of her body but nothing that would bring back the kind, loving person that he missed. He could restore the body to its pre-burned state but she would be a dumb zombified slave and that was not what he wanted. He could also bring her soul back from the other side but she would be a ghost and that was something he couldn't do to her.

His mind drifted away from the past and back into the present and he saw that the girl was awake and her fear filled eyes were on him completely. "Hello my dear, I hope you are comfortable. I must apologise, the people I had hired to acquire you did not do a good job. It was not you I wanted but a man, they were incompetent and will pay for their failure, in fact they already are." Abaddon said in flawless Italian while motioning to the body beside her. "That is the son of the head of the group I hired. I wanted a male body because I plan on taking control of the person's body and make it my own and while you are a powerful woman I have no intention of spending a lifetime in a woman's body. I never really saw the appeal of it but you must use what you are given I suppose, that is why I grabbed him once I saw that they had delivered you for me. He is weak, as close to a squib as you can get while still being magical so I am going to do a ritual which will shred your soul from your body and implant it into his body. Usually your magical cores will combine but I believe his is too weak and will be destroyed by yours. Whichever happens it doesn't matter, what will matter is that you will be in his body and sufficiently powerful enough for me to possess it. I will not lie to you, this will be painful, having your soul ripped from your body is not a pleasant experience but it is a necessary one. The one upside I can offer you is that when I take possession of the body you will not feel a thing as I take over and you die."

The woman tried to scream and move but she was silenced and adequately held down by Abaddon's magic. "You may die my dear but at least you die knowing that the man who put you in my hands is suffering for his mistake."

Abaddon moved over to a side table and collected a potion before returning to the woman. He waved his wand and her clothes disappeared. He seemed unfazed by her naked body although he saw that she was not impressed with losing her clothes. Abaddon dipped his right index finger into the potion before beginning to draw runes onto her body. He painted runes on her from her neck to her arms and torso then all the way down to her feet. Once he was finished with her body he painted a small rune on her forehead before doing the exact same thing to the male laying beside her. He began chanting in ancient Sumerian and the magic flowed through him. He glowed a bright white colour before tendrils erupted out of his hand and secured themselves around the woman's wrists, ankles and neck. The tendrils then pulled and the silencing spell broke as she screamed out in pain as her soul was ripped from her body.

The screaming stopped and Abaddon admired his handy work, her soul was floating in front of him by only a couple of feet, held afloat by the tendrils extending out of his hand. Abaddon walked around the table and her soul followed him. He floated it above the man's body before carefully placing into the body. Once the soul connected and was absorbed the body thrashed around for a few second before settling. Abaddon did a quick scan and saw that the woman's soul had taken over. He gave a brief smile before painting a rune onto his forehead and removing his clothes showing the exact same runes as he had painted onto the woman on him.

Abaddon closed his eyes and begun to chant again although this time the chanting was slightly different. With the woman he needed to control where her soul would go, with his own he will instruct it to take the nearest living host. Abaddon felt the pain of his soul being ripped from his body and he screamed out in pain. It didn't last long and he could see himself floating away from his body into the new one. His soul took possession of the body and he could feel the girl and surprisingly the boy fighting against his control and he laughed to himself as he took control from them and completely destroying their existence. His last thought before passing out was that while the girl looked like his Elizabeth, she was nowhere near as strong or determined as her.

-HP-

Harry and Amelia appeared in a large spacious hallway. The first thing Harry noticed was the huge staircase situated in the middle of the hall which split at the top to allow access to separate parts of upstairs. The staircase was polished wood and the banister was richly decorated. Harry looked around and saw different types of tapestries and wizarding portraits. He noticed that the hallways extended past the stairs on either side creating smaller corridors leading to other parts of the house. Harry managed to count ten doors leading off the hallway in total.

"Wow, this is a beautiful home Amelia." Harry said with genuine awe.

"Thanks Harry, but this is just the entrance. I'll give you the tour later." Amelia said while enlarging Harry's trunk and owl cage.

Amelia called for her house elf and a smartly dressed elf appeared. "How may Titch serve his Madam Bonesy?" The little elf asked.

"Can you take Harry's stuff and put them in the first guest room please?"

"Of course Madam."

With a crack the elf disappeared with Harry's trunk and owl cage. "Amelia, first guest room? How many rooms does this house have?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's not that big really. Eight bed, five bath manor house. For an old pureblood family that is about average size. I believe your parent's home was just slightly bigger."

"That is still big."

"Yes and no. It is bigger than what most people have but when you consider that our families are old pureblood families it isn't so big. The Bones go all the way back to the 14th century and the Potters go even further. Both our families have been prominent members of society taking on big and well respected roles as well as high paid ones. Add in the fact that the Goblins have been handling our money for that long as well and it isn't hard to see why we are able to afford large homes."

"I see. So my parent's had a house like this?"

"To be honest I thought you would have known that. I know you grew up with muggles but I would have thought someone would have told you about the basics of our society and your heritage."

"No, another thing Professor Dumbledore didn't do I guess."

"If not Dumbledore I would have thought your godfather would have."

"We didn't get much time together and the time we did got taken up by… other things."

"Ok Harry. Come on let's go find Susan and the others, on a nice day like this they are most probably outside by the pool."

Harry and Amelia walked down the hall to the left of the staircase and headed towards the door right at the end. Some of the portraits and pictures on the wall gave Harry curious looks while most just ignored him and carried on with what they were doing. Amelia opened the door and it led into a wide kitchen. Harry noticed how big it was and thought that it was probably bigger than the whole downstairs of the Dursley's house.

"Auntie, I didn't expect you home this soon. I thought you were working all day." Susan said from behind the opened fridge door.

"I am working all day. I'm just getting Harry settled here then I am back off to the ministry."

Susan closed the fridge to look at her aunt and she saw Harry standing behind her scanning the kitchen with his eyes. "Hi Harry." Susan said cheerfully.

This bought Harry back to reality and he looked over at Susan who he had realised was in the room with him. She was her usual 5'3 self and it looked like she hadn't grown since he last saw her. She had her hair in its usual plait but what Harry noticed most was her lack of clothes. She was wearing a bright green bikini with a light see-through shawl as a make shift skirt. This caused Harry to blush slightly and look down at his feet as he replied. "Hey Susan."

Susan saw that he was embarrassed and a smile crept onto her face as she shook her head in amusement. She thought about teasing him but decided against it. Her aunt had bought him here so it had most likely to do with her work and if her aunt was involved then it was bad. She didn't know what had happened but she surmised that he was most likely not having a great day.

"Do you want a butterbeer?" She said while going back to the fridge and hiding behind to door to cover her frown.

"Err, yes please."

Susan chucked him a butterbeer while picking another three out of the fridge. "So how long will you be staying with us?" Susan asked deciding that the best thing to do would be to act normal and pretend like this was a normal visit.

"Err…" Harry managed to say before Amelia interrupted him.

"Harry will most likely be here all summer."

Susan gave Amelia a slight glance as if to say 'what's going on?' but Amelia ended it with a slight shake of her head. Both actions went unnoticed by Harry.

"Ok, me, Hannah and Neville are out by the pool, come join us." Susan said while walking towards the back door.

"Harry will be out in a minute, I just want to tell him a few things before I leave." Amelia said.

"Ok aunty, see you this evening."

"Now Harry, if you want anything help yourself, none of this asking for stuff please. The first time Hannah stayed here for a week she kept asking whenever she wanted a drink even after I told her to help herself. You are most likely going to be here all summer so please treat it like your house. If you don't know where anything is just ask myself, Susan or Titch and they will be happy to show you. I will not tell Susan why you are staying, she most likely will not ask me as she knows I don't talk about work but she will most likely guess it has something to do with Voldemort. You can tell her if you want but it is your choice. Now, I'll give you a quick tour before going back to work."

"Amelia, I also have a house elf who works for me. Should I ask him to report to Titch and help around here?"

"Usually when a wizard stays at another's house the wizard's house elf stays at home. I'm sure you do not want to leave your elf with your aunt and uncle so yes, if you want him around you can ask him to do that, I'm sure Titch wouldn't mind the help."

"Ok, Dobby." Harry called.

Dobby had been standing near Harry the whole time and made himself appear when Harry called his name. "Yes master Harry Potter sir." Dobby said when he had fully appeared.

"While we stay here can you help Titch around Bones manor please?"

Dobby gave a little bow and apparated away. After that Amelia showed Harry all over the house and other than a brief note that drinks were not allowed in the library and that the books at not to be taken to the dinner table, she didn't really provide a description of the rooms as there were basically self-explanatory. Amelia ended the tour where she began, in the kitchen and she said goodbye before apparating back to the ministry. Once Amelia left Harry opened his butterbeer and put the cap in the bin before heading outside into the garden.

As soon as Harry opened the door he heard Hannah shriek while Neville and Susan were laughing. Harry walked three steps towards the pool before he stopped dead looking past the pool and at the field sized garden. It wasn't the garden that caught his attention by rather the creature nibbling at the grass. Neville saw Harry standing there and called out to him which caused Harry to look away from the creature and at his friends.

"You alright Harry?" Neville and Hannah said at the same time causing Susan and Hannah to giggle.

"Hey guys. Susan, you do realise you horse has wings right?" Harry asked looking back at the creature.

This cause all three of them to burst out laughing. "Harry, that is a Pegasus, they are meant to have wings. I swear you were in our care for magical creature's class." Susan managed to say through the laughter.

"Yeah but we never covered those."

"It was in the class book, did you not read it?"

"Not unless I had to, that bloody thing bites."

"Yeah, aunty refused to let me put it in the library with my other books so I have it tided with a belt and locked away in my chest of drawers."

Harry came and sat down on one of the free sun loungers. "So what do you guys do over the holidays?" Harry asked not knowing what a normal holiday was other than from the brief time he'd spent at the Weasleys.

"We just relax and have fun. Why? What do you do?" Hannah asked.

"It depends on where I am. When I'm at my aunt's house I do the chores, then I just hide out in my room doing my homework and anything else that allows me to not see my relatives. I had a pretty decent summer at the Weasley's before our second and forth year. The summer before our third year I spent the last two weeks staying at the leaky cauldron, that was a good two weeks. Mr. Fortescue really knows his history and he gave me free ice creams every half an hour." Harry said while smiling at the memory of those two weeks.

"Why did you spend two weeks at the leaky cauldron? Surely you could have flooed to Diagon alley if you needed to go shopping." Hannah asked.

"I blew up my great aunt for saying some rather horrible things about my parents. None of it true, not that she knew that, and my aunt and uncle just went with it. After a week of it I snapped and blew her up like a balloon before grabbing my things and walking out of the house."

"Harry, that's quite serious." Susan said. "Surely you would've got expelled for that or at least been in some trouble."

"Nah, it was accidental magic, I didn't mean to do it. I thought I was going to be expelled. I got on the knight's bus wondering what I was going to do and when I got off at the leaky cauldron I walked into Minister Fudge. Long story short, the ministry let me off because it was accidental, they wiped her memory and I spent the rest of the holiday there."

"That's not too bad then. I still remember the first time I did accidental magic. Aunty was so thrilled. We were in Magical Menagerie when I was six years old. Aunty was buying some treats for our owl and while she was doing this I was looking at the toads and rats. I didn't like the dull colours that the animals were and I told aunty that they would all look better if they were bright pink and seconds later they were. The shop keeper wasn't impressed, it apparently took her several hours to reverse it but aunty was over the moon and kept bragging to everyone about it, especially the age. Not many people perform accidental magic at that young an age and aunty liked to show it off a bit." Susan said without meaning to change the direction of the conversation.

"My first time I wasn't much older than you. My aunt gave me this awful haircut; I hated it and went to bed, when I woke up the next morning my hair had grown back. She tried it once more after that and again it grew back, but weirdly it doesn't grow on its own. I've had my hair this length for as long as I remember and whenever it is cut it will grow back really quickly but not grow any longer."

They spent the next few hours talking about any accidental magic they had done as well as a few stories about themselves. Harry told them about how it felt to fly Buckbeak as well as what it was like fighting a troll. The highlight for him though was Susan's story of when she spent her third year holiday in China and watching the fumbling tour guide trip several ancient Chinese wards and traps; as well as Hannah's story of her first bit of magic. Her older brother had decided to scare her one Halloween and she ended up banishing through several doors.

-HP-

It was beginning to get dark when Amelia Bones returned home from work. As she apparated into the main hall she heard laughter coming from the library and correctly guessed that Harry and Susan were in there and she decided to eat some dinner before going up there to disturb them. She walked into the kitchen and sat at the table as Titch bought her dinner over. While she was eating she processed everything that Kingsley had told her during their meeting. Although she had told him at Harry's aunts house that she was not pleased with him; that was in fact far from the truth. She didn't trust Dumbledore's order. Until this morning she had nothing but praise for the old man but it was still classed as a vigilante group and Kingsley had joined it at her request in order to keep an eye on it to make sure it was staying legal.

What she had learned from Kingsley today had not impressed her one bit. It seemed that Albus had stepped beyond the line on too many occasions with regards to Harry and it seemed that he was not planning on stopping. Kingsley had informed her that Albus was going to fight her at the Dursley's hearing for guardianship of Harry. She admitted that it could be a problem. She had a fair few members of the Wizengamot who backed her but Dumbledore's voting block and supporters were exceedingly larger than her own.

It amused her slightly that she was not petitioning to be Harry's guardian and was merely doing her job by looking into the abuse he suffered but that Dumbledore saw it as her trying to get Harry away from him. The old man is most definitely barmy she thought. She could not understand why Dumbledore is trying to restrict Harry. Yes it was under the guise of protecting him but it just didn't sit right with her, something felt odd.

Amelia had finished eating and decided that she would discuss it with Harry before she did anything. It was his life and he had a right to decide what he wanted done about things that affect him personally. She got up from the table and walked upstairs towards to the library. She opened the door to find Harry and Susan laying on their stomachs on the floor with their heads inches apart while reading the same book. Susan looked up and smiled while greeting her.

"Is there a reason you are both on the floor?" Amelia asked slightly amused.

"Well, Harry refused to sit at a table and considering we have to share a book it was just easier for me to join him on the floor then argue with him or constantly passing the book between us." Susan said feigning annoyance.

"It's not my fault the chairs in here are uncomfortable." Harry protested.

"They have comfort charms built in."

"Yes, well they are obviously worn out seeing as I couldn't get comfortable."

"Oh Merlin, you are like an old woman with your moaning Potter. There is nothing wrong with the chairs, it is you."

Amelia just stood there laughing at her niece getting frustrated with their guest. She decided to divert the topic before it got any worse although she had assumed that it had been going on for a while. "So why do you need to share a book? We have a whole library full of them."

"Oh, because Harry has yet to get his OWL results and therefore not purchased his books for our sixth year so we have to share my ones." Susan replied happy with the change of topic.

"Fair enough." Amelia said. "Susan, would you mind if I had a private chat with Harry."

"Of course, we can finish our homework later." Susan said getting up and leaving the library after throwing a curious look at her aunt.

Harry got up off the floor and sat in one of the chairs. "So what did you want to talk about Amelia?"

"I had a meeting with Kingsley earlier and thought you should know what was said. I thought you didn't like our chairs?"

Harry laughed at the question. "I don't have a problem with them, they are very comfortable but Susan complained that I had sat in her chair when I sat down and insisted that I moved so I acted like none of the other chairs were good enough and made us study on the floor. If I couldn't sit in it then neither could she." Harry said with a huge grin on his face. "So what happened with Kingsley?"

"First off I should let you know that while Kingsley is in the order of the phoenix he is in it on my orders. He is my spy in Dumbledore's group and keeps me up to date on current events in it. After what happened at your aunt's house I met with him and he informed me that Albus is going to challenge my removal of you from the Dursley's and placing you here at the next Wizengamot meeting in two weeks time."

"How can he challenge it if it is a criminal investigation?"

"He cannot challenge that bit until we take it to trial but he can place a restriction on how long we have to investigate. I do not know if he will do that, I assume he will but it is your placement with me that he is challenging. He is going to attempt to have you moved to Hogwarts as well as having himself placed as your official guardian until you come of age."

"Can he do that? Sirius was my guardian and surely whoever he says he wants as my guardian in his will will become my guardian."

"Normally yes, but he is still a convicted criminal and Albus may use that to have himself placed as your guardian instead of whoever Sirius appoints."

"What if Sirius emancipates me? Can Dumbledore stop it?"

"Yes, if he puts in paperwork before it happens. Once you are emancipated it is irreversible but he can stop it before it happens."

"Can he put in the paperwork to stop it before it is declared that it is Sirius' wish?"

"You mean can he stop it before the will reading takes place?"

"Yes."

"No Harry, he cannot, but there will be a brief window during the will reading between when it is mentioned and you signing the papers."

"So he will need to be at the will reading to stop it from happening?"

"Yes. But we need to prepare in case you are not emancipated."

"You are right, but the Wizengamot meeting is not for two weeks, so we can wait until after the will reading tomorrow to see if it is worth planning something because if I do become emancipated then there is no need to plan anything as Dumbledore cannot do a thing."

"Ok, we shall wait until tomorrow but there is something else I wanted to talk to you about and that is this Abaddon person."

"Yes, you mentioned that you knew him during our meeting with the minister. He asked me to talk to people about him to get a good idea of who he is before accepting or rejecting his offer of an apprenticeship. What can you tell me about him?"

"I do not know him Harry but I know of him and what I know is not pretty. He is the foremost expert on dark magic: necromancy, blood magic, possession, etc. He has spent hundreds of years studying and practicing them. He was the most feared dark lord to have ever lived and Voldemort's death count does not even come close to Abaddons. It is also rumoured that he once mentored Voldemort and a lot of Voldemort's knowledge came from him, although that is only a rumour." Amelia sighed at this point before continuing. "As the head of the DMLE I am given a watch list, it is a list of wizards who the ICW and ministry have piled together of the most evil and powerful dark wizards. We are to keep an eye on the people on this list whenever they enter our country and are only to apprehend them if we have a huge ton of support to back us up. Abaddon is at the top of this list and has been on it longer than any one else."

"It is only because of this list that you are aware of him?"

"Yes, I was briefed on all the people on the list."

"So you have no first hand knowledge of him? You are only going on what you've been told by someone else." Harry said that last point as a fact and not a question.

"That is correct and I know what you are going to say next Harry. How do I know the information I was given is correct if I didn't collect it myself?"

To this Harry nodded.

"Not a lot of people have first hand knowledge of him, let alone what he is capable of. The small amount of info I have on him was acquired over more than a century of research and surveillance. He is secretive and an expert at concealment. I have a dozen loose ends from certain cases over the years that I believe to be the work of him but no way of proving it. Also dozens of people were sent to spy on him and to acquire information and all but two were never heard of again. The two that did return to give information to the ICW both said that he had looked directly at the two of them, both on separate occasions, and they felt that he let them go. It is believed he wants some information out there on him but not a lot."

"Yeah, I got that feeling from him. He told me things, enough to gain my attention but not enough for me to get anywhere near a clear picture of who he is."

"What did he tell you about himself? The more information we have on him the better."

"He told me what you've just told me and that my mum was his last apprentice and he was the one who taught her how to protect me from Voldemort. He also said that he would not tell me everything about him as everybody has their secrets. His most curious comment though was that what people know about him is what he wants them to know and that even the history books do not portrait a complete picture of who he is."

"Lily was his apprentice?"

"Apparently so, although I only have his word on that as I have not spoken to Dumbledore about it and he seems to know a lot more about Abaddon than I do, well that is the impression that I got off Abaddon in any case."

"The fact still remains though Harry. The magic he knows and is apparently willing to teach you is very dark in nature and possessing books and objects linked to it let along casting that sort of magic is a one way ticket to Azkaban."

"There was a comment he made to me that got me thinking. Magic is not inherently dark or light and it all comes down to your intent and how you plan to use it. He told me that the killing curse was originally used to grant terminally ill people a release from their pain and illness and now it is an unforgivable curse because of how people have used it."

"That is true Harry and even now it is still used to grant people who meet certain criteria a painless death if they so desire and only specially qualified healers may legally use the curse and even then only in the course of their work and with a ministry representative there to oversee it."

"So he was correct?"

"To some degree, but what good can come from creating inferi or poisoning someone's blood with your own? These are some things I no doubt he will teach you and even still, no matter what your intent might be, to do most of that magic is illegal and will lead you to Azkaban."

"Maybe, but I have to fight Voldemort and have to kill him if I want to live. Surely anything that can help me survive this war, however dark it may be, will be worth knowing."

"Harry, I cannot tell you what to do; I can only give you advice and a better understanding of things. You must do what you feel you need to do. While I am head of the DMLE I can protect you from prosecution if you use dark magic against Voldemort and his death eaters. I will not be happy about it but I will do it if it helps you to win the war and lead a normal life but after that or if you use it on others then I will leave you out to dry. You also still have enemies in high places who will use this against you, but don't forget you also have friends. Do what you feel you need to do but remember what I have just said, and with that said I shall bid you goodnight and will see you in the morning for our trip to Gringotts."

Amelia walked out of the library and left Harry to think over what she had said. She knew he would most likely choose to accept Abaddons offer of an apprenticeship especially if what he said about Lily was true. Amelia vowed to herself to help Harry in whatever way she could. He was in for a rough time whether he accepted Abaddon's offer or not and she would do her best to help keep him on the right path.

-HP-

Albus could say that he wasn't having the best day so far. Harry had been removed from his aunt's house and into the care of Amelia Bones, someone who he did not control and would not give him access to Harry without good reason. Luckily the blood wards over the Dursley house had not collapsed as he had feared as Harry was not living there but he knew that it could happen at any time for any number of reasons.

There was also the fact that the Dursley's were being investigated for child abuse and he knew because he was the one who placed Harry there against standard procedure then it will also blow back onto him and he may well be implicated as well. There was also the problem of if it did go to court. If they were convicted then the wards will almost certainly fail as Petunia would be in jail and no longer in the house. He was torn on whether to defend the Dursley's or not. He knew that they were slightly rough with Harry while growing up but they were family, it was most likely just a little strong discipline and Harry thought it was slightly too much.

The problem with whether to defend them though was that if they still lost then he would be implicated even more so than he will be because he will be seen as condoning that behaviour by trying to help them escape jail. There was also the fact that even if they won, Harry would see it as a betrayal that Dumbledore was willing to back the Dursley's over him. Dumbledore could not understand why Harry was unwilling to see the bigger picture here. How could he make Harry understand the consequences of what he is doing here?

Dumbledore was bought out of his musing as the door to the room opened and twelve people walked in and sat at the table Albus was already sitting at. Once everybody was seated Augusta Longbottom cleared her throat. "Let us begin the July meeting of the Hogwarts board of governors. First item on the agenda is the current vacant position of the defence against the dark arts professor." Augusta said.

"Yes, I have found a person to fill that position for the coming year." Dumbledore said while sitting up in his chair. "Professor Snape has expressed interest in taking the job and I am inclined to give it to him."

"That will not be happening Albus. The board met before coming here and while we did not have enough votes to overthrow your wishes and terminate his employment." Augusta said while looking at four members of the board in turn before continuing. "We did get enough votes to stop you from placing him as the defence professor. We all agreed that it was not appropriate for a death eater to teach that class, although I do not understand why several of us thought it was acceptable for him to teach potions, I can only assume you have some control over this board."

"Professor Snape has been teaching at this school for years and many of the students look up to him, add in his particular knowledge and he is an excellent person to teach that lesson."

"Your opinion on whether he will be good or not as the defence professor is irrelevant Albus. All twelve of us have agreed that he will not be teaching that subject. Also because of your failure to find a suitable person to teach that lesson last year we have taken it upon ourselves to find someone for you. Normally the hiring and firing of staff falls to you but as you know if three quarters of our members agree to it then we can supersede your authority on the matter. With a vote of twelve to zero we have decided that we will be hiring the defence professor this year."

"This is highly irregular Augusta."

"Yet fully within the rules of this board and the school. Mr. Turnside has a friend who is willing to take the position. Mr. Turnside if you will." Augusta said turning away from Albus.

"Thank you Madam Longbottom. Yes, my friend Joshua Wolfe is the current duelling champion of France and came third in the last world tournament. He previously attended Beauxbatons Academy although his parents were both British. He was a French auror for just under a decade before moving onto professional duelling which he has been doing for the last fifteen years. He left Beauxbatons with the highest recorded defence and charms grades from the school this century. He knows a lot of the dark arts but has found many ingenious ways of using normal and light magic as a replacement for it and a counter. I do not doubt that he will be an excellent addition to the staff here."

"Thank you Mr. Turnside." Augusta said taking back over. "The board has already met with Mr. Wolfe but we thought you would like to meet him and give him the job yourself to keep up the appearance that you run the school but know this Albus, whether you want to give him the job or not, it is his. You can give it to him or we will at the board meeting next month. Now onto item two of the meetings agenda, the Hogsmead trips for the coming year…" Augusta said continuing the meeting.

Albus sighed, yes; it was not a good day for him indeed.

-HP-

Harry woke up and looked around the room. He wondered where he was as it took a few seconds to click that he was staying at Susan and her aunt's house. He got up and had a quick shower before getting dressed and going downstairs for breakfast. When he entered the kitchen he saw that Amelia was already up and was reading the morning prophet.

"Morning Amelia, anything good in there?" Harry asked while Titch put some bacon, eggs and toast on a plate for him and Dobby poured him some orange juice.

"Good morning Harry, nothing interesting. What time is your meeting at Gringotts?"

"It begins at 10am."

"Ok, so we have about an hour and half until you need to be there. I have some business to take care of at Gringotts so I will escort you there and will wait for you once my business is complete then we can floo back here. I would say we could pick up your school supplies but it would be best to wait until you get your OWL results and have a think about what you can choose for your NEWTS before buying anything."

As she finished saying that the kitchen door opened and Susan walked in. She had obviously just woken up as she looked like a zombie and had the worst case of bed head that Harry had ever seen. She was also wearing her dressing gown so Harry knew she hadn't bothered getting washed or dressed before coming down for breakfast. The final clue was that she shuffled her feet along the floor as if she was unable to walk properly. Harry chuckled when he saw her earning him a not too impressive death glare which in his opinion she could not pull off in this state.

"Good morning Susie, you look rather beautiful this morning." Amelia said while looking over her paper and shaking her head.

"Lemme alone." She mumbled before grabbing a cup of coffee and literally falling into a chair.

"Really not a morning person, are you?" Harry asked.

Susan just stuck out her tongue in response before going back to drinking her coffee.

"You get used to it Harry, I have yet to see Susan as anything other than looking like the undead when she wakes up, she's been like this since she was 5 years old." Amelia said from behind the prophet.

Harry finished his breakfast the whole time looking at Susan. Whenever she would look at him he would just laugh at her hair causing her to glare at him. Once he had finished breakfast Amelia put her paper down, gave Susan a kiss on the forehead and told her that they would be back later. She took Harry to the fireplace and went through first. Harry waited a few seconds before following her and appearing in the Leaky Cauldron.

The walk through Diagon Alley was mostly uneventful. The only bit of excitement was when Harry saw Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for the first time. It took all of his control plus a reminder from Amelia that he had an important appointment to stop him from running in there immediately. Once that little distraction was out of the way they continued on to Gringotts. They arrived to find it more guarded than Harry remembered. There were wizards by the door carrying secrecy probes as well as three security trolls sitting in a guard house just inside the building.

They were scanned with the probes as they entered but were otherwise not disturbed. "I'm surprised that there are not aurors here." Harry said commenting on the security.

"The minister and I wanted to put some here but the goblins refused. They have always handled their own defences and wished to continue to do so even with the war going on." Amelia replied as they approached a teller.

They both parted ways, Amelia off to do her bit of business while Harry went off for the will reading. Amelia promised Harry that she would be waiting for him in the atrium when he finished with his business.

A goblin escorted Harry to the office which would hold the will reading and told him that it would be starting in 15 minutes. The goblin left after showing Harry the door so Harry opened it himself and walked in. The room was richly decorated and it was obvious to Harry that whichever goblin worked in this office was most defiantly high up in the business hierarchy. The large wooden desk had an elderly but still fierce looking goblin sitting behind it and in front of the desk had five chairs. Two of these chairs were already occupied. One by a witch he barely recognised as Andromeda Tonks and the other by Narcissa Malfoy.

They both looked at him as he entered and a scrawl appeared on his face when he saw Narcissa. Unperturbed by his expression she spoke. "Hello Mr. Potter." She said politely with a nod.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked ignoring the way she wished to remain polite.

"I am guessing I am here for the same reason you are. To hear my dear cousins will."

"Dear cousin. Sirius never once even hinted that you two were close."

"I am sure there are many things that my cousin never told you Mr. Potter." This comment caused Harry to recoil as if he had been slapped. "Before he went to Azkaban we were civil to each other and even on friendly terms. This continued after he was released and I had visited with him multiple times over the past year. It saddened me somewhat. Hiding out in the most ancient and noble house of Black did no good for him but at least it was better than a cell in Azkaban."

"How did you manage to get in, Dumbledore is the secret keeper?"

"Albus told me at Sirius' request. He required an unbreakable vow that I would not tell my husband or Voldemort's lot where I was going or what I was doing, not that I could tell them where I was going."

"I am surprised you took the vow, I thought you would've gained a lot from Voldemort by telling him."

"You are assuming Mr. Potter that I am a follower of Voldemort's. I am not, a Black follows no one, something my cousin Regulus forgot for some time but managed to remember even if it killed him. My husband is a follower of his but I am not. I played the loyal pureblood wife and stuck by my husband during this but after the events at the department of mysteries he went too far. He allowed himself to get caught, making myself and my son pariahs in the magical community. All the work I put in to make us leaders of our community wasted because he was stupid and underestimated you and your friends. Sirius always said that if I ever needed or wanted to get out of my marriage that he would help me and I am here hoping that in death he kept the promise he made while alive." Narcissa sighed not wanting to say anymore.

"Well, I cannot say that Lucius has ever shown any abundance of brains in my company."

"He had his moments, but he also had his moments of foolishness and it fell to me to protect him several times but alas I couldn't protect him from his last blunder. Not that I blame you or your friends Mr. Potter, in fact after the incident I rather think highly of the six of you. You showed a level of skill which our world has been lacking for quite a while."

"Why now though, why leave your husband now and what of Draco?"

"It intrigues me that you are worried about Draco. From what he has said you have both always hated each other and have been rivals."

"I do not hate Draco. To be honest if I was to feel anything for him it would be pity. He grew up in Lucius' shadow and hasn't seemed to come out of it. When he talks it is always 'my father…' like he does not have a mind of his own. It is like he is not his own person and he is trying to be as much like Lucius as he can in order to gain some sort of approval from him, I do not know if that is correct but it is what I assume from what I have witnessed. As for being his rival, I do not see him as a rival, more of an annoyance. He attacks me, tries to harass me, makes comments about me and my friends but he never seems to come out on top. He will attack me or my friends and without fail he will lose. It is like he refuses to learn a lesson from our encounters. I'm sorry, I'm not really talking well of your son and it cannot be easy hearing this."

"Do not feel sorry for telling the truth Mr. Potter. Draco is my son and I will always love him but as time goes on I get more and more disappointed with him. He was always more of a Malfoy then a Black and as you said, he idolises his father and because of that he finds it difficult to learn the tricks of life that I have tried to teach him countless times."

"If you do not mind me asking, what are you going to do if Sirius has dissolved your marriage?"

"I am going to go to France. I have friends in high circles there and my daughter is also there. I will get her and go into hiding."

"You have a daughter?"

"Yes, Cassiopeia or Cassie as she prefers is sixteen years old and going to a school over there for squibs."

"I never knew Draco had a sister."

"A twin, but it doesn't surprise me. Lucius and Draco both disowned her when it was discovered that she was a squib. She took it rather hard, she always loved Draco and he turned her aside without a second thought when we realised she had no magic. I was the only one who stood by her and I was able to get her out to France and support her through the money my mother and father left me when they died."

"I must admit I am rather surprised."

"What that I didn't disown my daughter?"

"Yes, I had always painted you with the same brush as Draco and Lucius."

"Well, while I may believe in blood purity, I am a Black after all, she is still my daughter and I cannot just throw her to the side like she never existed. I may be a monster but I am not that bad and if Draco decides to follow his father then she will be the only family I have left."

"Narcissa, you still have a family, the Black's are not completely gone even if I have been disowned." The other woman in the room said speaking up for the first time.

"I know Andy, and I do appreciate it but at the moment it feels like I have no choice but to choose between my daughter or husband and son. I am going to loose family and I know it is my own fault for seeking a way out of my marriage but even though I know it needs to be done I cannot help feeling this way about it."

"That is understandable Cissy but no matter what you decide to do you will always have at least some family around while I am alive."

As she said that the door opened and Tonks and Remus walked in holding hands followed by Dumbledore. Harry raised an eyebrow at Remus and Tonks. Remus just raised his back as if to say 'is there a problem?' while Tonks just grinned at Harry.

The goblin behind the desk coughed to gain everyone's attention before speaking. "Mr. Dumbledore, you were not summoned to this will reading." The Goblin said.

"Professor Dumbledore is here as my guest. I was under the impression that I was allowed a guest for the will reading." Remus replied.

"Yes, if nobody has an objection to him being here then he may indeed remain."

"I have an objection to him being present." Harry spoke up.

This caused everybody to look at Harry with shock. While Remus and Tonks knew of there being a bit of tension between Harry and Dumbledore they didn't expect this. Narcissa on the other hand thought Harry was Dumbledore's golden boy and while shocked she looked on with amusement.

"Harry my boy…" Albus was able to say before Harry interrupted him.

"Do not 'Harry my boy' me professor. I have nothing to say to you other then to ask if you have my OWL results with you."

Albus was, like the rest, shocked at how Harry was acting and because of this was flabbergasted to say anything other than "Yes, I have them here." He said while pulling an envelope out of his robes.

Harry took the letter from Dumbledore before turning to face the goblin's desk and away from Dumbledore.

"As there is an objection to you being here Mr. Dumbledore you will have to leave seeing as you are not a beneficiary to this will." The goblin said slightly annoyed.

"I must insist upon staying…" Dumbledore said before he was again interrupted although this time by the goblin and not Harry.

"You can insist all you want but if you do not leave then we will remove you." As the goblin said that the door opened and four heavily armed goblins walked into the office.

Dumbledore looked at the goblins before turning his attention to Harry. He sighed before walking out of the room while he still could. Once the door was closed Remus turned to Harry. "I assume there was a reason you did not want Albus here?"

"Yes there was. I believe that Sirius is going to emancipate me in his will and professor Dumbledore was here to challenge that decision. He is currently planning to assert himself as my legal guardian and if I am emancipated then he cannot do that. Madam Bones and I spoke about it last night and I just knew that if he turned up today then it would be for that reason."

"I am sorry Harry. When he expressed an interest in coming today I did not think it would be for a reason like that, I had assumed it was to know who got Grimmauld place."

"No problem Moony, you were not to know although I'm glad you didn't insist he remained when I objected." Harry said while giving him a genuine smile.

"Right, now that that is finished with can we get on with this reading, I am rather busy today." The goblin said with clear agitation on his face and in his voice. "I Ripblade, head of the Black family account here at Gringotts swear that this is the last will and testament of Sirius Orion Black and has not been opened or tampered with since it came into my possession on the 21st February 1996 as proven by the fact it is still sealed with wax with the Black family crest stamped into it. I would ask one of you to verify this claim."

"I shall do it." Narcissa said.

Ripblade handed the envelope to Narcissa and she began waving her wand over it. "It is clean; the last magical signature is Sirius'." Narcissa said confirming what Ripblade had previously said.

Narcissa handed the envelope back to Ripblade and he opened it before reading.

_This is the last will and testament of me, Sirius Orion Black. As you are obviously being read this I can safely say I am dead. I can only hope that I went out fighting and with style. If I died while fighting Voldemort and/or his death eaters then I can say I ended my life right. I cannot say that I was the nicest person around but I tried my best to be as good a friend or family to all of you present as you were the only people I truly cared about. I did not have a happy life, spending my childhood with my mother and most of my adult life in Azkaban but I can say that each and every one of you made it so much better and for that I cannot thank any of you enough. You are all the best people I know and know that I love every one of you dearly._

_Now, I had wrote two wills and if you are being read this one then it means that the war is still raging on and therefore I require an unbreakable vow from each of you in order to claim what I have left you in this will. If you fail to take the vow then what I left you goes to Harry. You may see this as me not trusting you but please know that is not the case. The only one of you who I believe will understand is Remus. During the last war we trusted Peter like a brother because he was our brother in everything but blood; he went on to betray us. I trusted you all with my life but I must be cautious with Harry's. I will do everything I can in order to ensure he survives and that is why I am requiring the vow from all of you. The vow is:_

_I (insert name) swear an unbreakable vow on my life and magic that I shall help, guide and protect Harry Potter to the best of my abilities from anyone he considers an enemy. I shall look out for him above all others and do what Sirius Orion Black requested I do for Harry Potter in his last will and testament until such time as Harry Potter releases me from this vow._

_Cissy, you are a dangerous women in both life and magic. Harry is the last of the Potter line and he knows nothing about how the magical world works or the role is has in it. Harry has been left in the dark about wizarding culture, laws, his heritage, everything. It is one of the few decisions of Dumbledore's I agreed with, Harry was still a child with too much placed on him to deal with this, it was something he could learn when he was an adult and I planned on waiting until he become of age to go over this with him. Depending on when I died he may know a little or he may know nothing. You know how things work and how to manipulate them better than anyone else I know. Teach him what he needs to know so that when he wins this war he may go and take his place helping to run our society if he so chooses._

_I know you also are a fantastic dueller and know quite a bit of dangerous magic. Do not corrupt my boy but teach him enough to ensure he is able to walk away from this war alive. I do not want him knowing dark magic but I know if he is to win he will need everything he can get to help him. I am leaving it at your discretion on what you teach him but make it formidable._

_Now onto more personal matters for you. I wrote up a document while I was alive that ended your marriage to Lucius. All it requires is Harry's signature as I am making him the head of the Black family. I would have signed it myself but this way is better. Clear out the Malfoy vault before getting Harry to sign the document. Make the bastard penniless, that will show him that Black's are not to be messed with as well as dealing a blow to Voldemort's war effort. In addition to making the vow you will have to be divorced from Lucius before you can claim what I've left you. I am sorry Cissy but I will not let him get his hands on it and using it to help fight Harry. I know you were undecided on what to do and I can only hope this helps you to make the right decision._

_To you I leave the sum of five million galleons as well as the family's holiday home in the south of France. Do you remember the place? We went there the October before I wrote this will and you fell in love with it as soon as you saw it. So far it has a few basic wards on it but you will need to add to them if you decide to take it._

_Andromeda, just before I wrote this will I reinstated you into the family, I do not know if I have managed to tell you yet but if I haven't you are no longer disowned and are a recognised Black again. Your role for Harry is the simplest; I want you to tell him all about his family. You knew the Potter's better than any of us, and I'm not talking about Lily and James, I mean the whole Potter clan. His family history is a glorious one; let him know all about the name he carries._

_To you I leave the sum of five million galleons as well as the family's second home in Dorset. It may not be as nice as your current home but it is more protected. Take Ted and move in there. Look after yourself; you always were my favourite cousin… sorry Cissy._

_Nymphadora, you are an auror and a damn good one at that even if you cannot walk without hitting something. While I have asked Narcissa to help Harry with spells there are some that as an auror you will know that she doesn't. Teach him them please. I went through auror training before I went to Azkaban so I know some of the training that goes on there and it will be beneficial to him. Get him doing endurance, target practice, duel casting and anything else you may think will help._

_To you I also leave the sum of five million galleons as well as the Black's second vault. I do not want Harry getting anything from that vault and you are forbidden to give him anything from it but it may be of some help to you with your job. I also leave you Kreacher, I have seen your flat and you are in need of a house elf more than anyone else. Be careful with him and what you tell him to do, he is a dodgy thing._

_Remus, my brother. When my family disowned me you were there for me as much as the Potter's and have been a better friend to me then I have been to you and for that I again ask your forgiveness. I cannot help but think how different things would be if we had not suspected you during the first war. You are now the last true marauder left. You have always told Harry about our exploits and our school years, continue to do that. You have done more for Harry then I managed to do and I only ask you continue to do that. We came up with some brilliant pranks during our days at Hogwarts and beyond, some of these will be helpful during the war and can help turn the tide of a battle. Teach him and his friends these. Also speak to those wonderful Weasley twins, they have some good ideas for that business they plan on building but we are marauders, we were first and we were better. Show then what the oldies can do my friend._

_To you I leave Grimmauld place. This would be a perfect place for you to go once a month as the basement is reinforced. The months before writing this we would spend down there together and it will hold you. I also leave you five million galleons, look after yourself my friend and please buy some newer clothes._

_Harry, my boy. I am thankful for every moment we had together and it is my fault that we didn't have more time together. I should have been there for you but I let my thirst for revenge get the better of me. If I had not gone after Wormtail things could have been so different for the both of us. Since I first saw you after my breakout from Azkaban it has haunted me every night how badly I messed up with you. I have tried to be a better Godfather to you since then and can only hope that you are able to forgive a fool. I know that I have not been the best Godfather, more so than I wish to admit and I know I will not be able to look James in the face when I see him._

_I failed you greatly; I should have taken a more active role in your life instead of accepting the old man's greater good. It was during the Christmas before writing this that I realised how I did you wrong and it was when you went back to Hogwarts that I promised to set things right. I hope I had time to do that and that we had a long chat about certain things but if we didn't then there is a letter in the Black family vault for you. I can only hope that once you read it you can find some way to forgive me._

_I was going to leave you Grimmauld place as the only happy memories I have there are with you but there are plenty of Potter properties you can use and Moony needed it more than you. Do you remember during your forth year I used to send letters with some exotic birds? Well I had an island in the Maldives. No one knows about it as it was one of the few things I bought myself and did not belong to the Black family. It is unplottable and has numerous wards on it. It is yours and I think you will find it a nice escape from the war if you ever need to get away for a bit. I am also leaving you what is left of the Black vault which equals to just over five million galleons at the time of writing this and will most likely be more if the goblins had anything to say about it. There are also other treasures and heirlooms in the vault that you might find useful._

_Also as you were registered as my heir you are also the head of the Black family. The family ring is in the vault and it will be official once you put it on. Once you do so you will become emancipated in the wizarding world as a head of a family cannot be underage. There are a lot of responsibilities that come with the role and Narcissa will help you with understanding them. I also advise you to place her as your proxy while you are at Hogwarts, she will explain what that means. Also as I doubt anyone else will tell you but once you become emancipated you will be able to listen to your parents will and I advise you to do that before you leave Gringotts._

_Now you lot, remember me for me and not for my death… unless it was glorious and noble. You are all my family, maybe not by blood but definitely by choice and I couldn't have wished for a better one. Harry, I know you do not trust the Malfoys and with good reason, but Cissy is family, she was a Black first and the Black's stick together, she will help you and hopefully the unbreakable vow she has to take will help persuade you to that fact. Look after each other._

_Sirius Orion Black_

Surprisingly to Harry Narcissa was the first to stand. "I never had any doubt that he would keep his word." Narcissa said while looking at Harry and grabbing his hand. "If what I've said so far or what Sirius said in his will has not convinced you that I no longer plan on backing my husband then I hope this vow will. Who will be our bonder?"

"I will do it for everyone and then you can do it for me." Andromeda said.

"I Narcissa Malfoy nee Black swear an unbreakable vow on my life and magic that I shall help, guide and protect Harry Potter to the best of my abilities from anyone he considers an enemy. I shall look out for him above all others and do what Sirius Orion Black requested I do for Harry Potter in his last will and testament until such time as Harry Potter releases me from this vow."

As Narcissa said that a flame shot out of Andromeda's wand and circled their hands before disappearing. Remus, Tonks and Andromeda all said the vow and had it binded as well.

"Harry, would you be able to sign those papers abolishing my marriage once you have been to the Black vault and grabbed the family ring?"

"Of course, and can I ask you all a favour. Can you not mention these vows or my island in the Maldives to anyone?"

"If that is what you want. Now while you are going to get the Black family ring I shall be emptying the Malfoy vault while I am still able to. Shall we meet back here once that is done?"

"If it is alright with Ripblade, I do not want to take any more time of his than necessary and it is his office." Harry replied while looking towards Ripblade for confirmation.

"We still have a few things to clear up with regards to you claiming the title as head of the Black family. We will need to get the ring from the vault so it might be prudent to take a small recess and continuing in say 30 minutes. As account manager for the Black's I shall escort you to the vault Mr. Potter."

"Ok great, we shall all meet back here in 30 minutes."

With that said everyone left the room and went to their separate parts of Gringotts to transfer what Sirius left them into their vaults while Narcissa and Harry got in a cart with the Ripblade heading into Gringott's tunnels.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the story except for that one guest who wasn't even brave enough to sign into his account before criticising my work. I doubt you will see this as you made it very clear you did not enjoy the story but I shall say it anyway. I like it when people point out bits of my story that are wrong; it helps me to become a better writer. You wrote 'Vowel of loyalty? LOL... it's VOW fucktard.'**

**This is fan fiction; it is not going to be perfect and I appreciate it when people point out how I can improve. What I do not appreciate is when people are rude jerks, especially if the part of my story they are 'correcting' was correct in the first place. If you are going to criticise my work then make sure you are right as it just makes you look like an idiot if you're not. **

**This guest wasn't the only one to point something out. Sirius009, after reading your review I went back through the chapter looking for the bit you mentioned. I never really thought about it before but after rereading it I can see what you mean. I will try and remember that in the future, thank you.**

**Now, with that out of the way I hope you enjoy.**

-H/P-

Voldemort sat at the head of the table in what he had dubbed the meeting room. It used to be the grand dining room of the Riddle manor but he had no need for one of those so he changed it to suit his need. In front of him sat only two of his death eaters. Yaxley and Wormtail were going over plans for the attacks that were going to happen this evening. He had no care for who did what assault as long as they completed the job to his satisfaction.

While Yaxley and Wormtail were assigning death eaters to the target they were to attack Voldemort was going over his plan to attack Azkaban. He had used one of his contacts in the DMLE to ensure that the wards to Azkaban would be down for a brief window tonight as well as making contact with the dementors and securing their allegiance. He was going to slip into the prison with a dozen death eaters while the wards were down and while the dementors were releasing and arming his followers in there he and his team were going to head to the wardens office and claim control of the wards so that they could make their escape.

Azkaban had numerous wards surrounding the prison including anti-apparition, portkey and magic wards. The anti-magic wards were new wards that were not covering the prison during his first rise to power and it took him a lot of time a research before he knew how to counteract them. There was only one known way around the anti-magic ward around the prison and that was a special amulet that the guards wore. These amulets were created by the unspeakables almost ten years ago and how to create them was a secret not released outside of the department of mysteries.

Only several unspeakables know how to make them and only the head can legally make them. They were heavily regulated by the ministry and only the head of the DMLE can request them to be made. When the amulets were not in use at Azkaban they were under heavy guard in an undisclosed area of the department of mysteries. Since these amulets came into use and the anti-magic wards put up the main entrance to Azkaban was sealed shut and the only way on and off the island was by a portkey point in the DMLE. To get there and do a successful assault he knew he would need the help of Amelia Bones either willingly or unwillingly and both scenarios he deemed as unlikely to succeed so Voldemort searched for other ways to access the prison and he came across the two weaknesses of the wards. The first weakness was that it only stopped wand magic so he knew if the wards were up there was still some magic he could do. The second and most important weakness was that there were two control points for the wards which can be accessed by any active auror. The first being in Azkaban itself, in the warden's office and the second in the DMLE in Amelia Bone's office.

It was with this knowledge that he created his current and most likely to succeed plan. While the portkey point was the only way used to get to the prison it was not the only way to reach it. He planned to fly out with a dozen death eaters and when the wards were down he would descend onto the island and blast open what used to be the main entrance and enter that way. It left him reliant on the auror under his command but he felt that it was an acceptable risk. He just needed the wards to stay down until he was inside, once inside he could make do without his wand until he took the warden's office.

"My lord." Yaxley said bringing Voldemort back to the task at hand. "How would you like us to deploy?"

"I will attack Azkaban first. You are to wait 30 minutes after I leave to begin your assaults. That should give the aurors enough time to try and mount a defence before you attack your targets. The death eaters I have with me will be enough to handle the aurors and they will be too busy to stop the other attacks. Are all the portkeys ready?"

"Yes my lord and I will be calling in all the death eaters taking part after this meeting and have them wait here before going on their raids."

"Good. They are not to know who they are attacking until it is time to leave and they are not to know who the others are attacking."

"Of course my lord."

"Good. We are ready then, begin calling our people in."

-HP-

The cart came to a stop in front of the vault. Ripblade jumped out with practiced ease followed by Harry with a huge grin on his face. He always loved the cart rides through Gringotts and always imagined them to be like the rollercoaster he was never allowed to ride the few times the Dursley's couldn't find a babysitter and had to take him on days out with them. Harry looked back at Narcissa to see her stumble out of the cart in a completely undignified manner. Like most normal people, Narcissa couldn't stand the cart rides as they made her very queasy.

"Lord Black, this is the Black family vault. The vault can only be opened by myself or by use of the family ring. You will need to be wearing the family ring to be able to access the vault in the future and if you require somebody to come to Gringotts on your behalf then they will need to present me a letter from you requesting their access signed with your blood and the seal from the family ring. The ring will be on a pedestal to the right of the entrance and may I suggest you put it on before touching anything as some of the things in the vault have anti-thievery charms on them that will activate if anyone not wearing the ring or without Black blood touches them." Ripblade said.

"What if I ask my house elf to come for me, won't he be caught by the anti-thievery charms?" Harry asked as Ripblade slid his hand across the vault door and it began opening.

"No, House elves and Goblins are immune to the anti-thievery charms as they only affect humans. Your house elf will be able to take whatever you require him to take, but if you send another human who is not a member of the Black family in your place then I recommend only asking them to remove money as it is the only thing without the charm on."

The door to the vault fully opened and Harry got the first glimpse of the Black fortune. The vault was massive with piles of galleons along one of the walls. Along the other were stacks of books, jewellery, antiques and many other valuable items. The back wall was covered in portraits of all the Blacks going back generations. Harry noticed the pedestal with the family ring on it as well as a chest next to it with a note attached.

Harry picked up the ring and slid it onto his middle finger on his right hand and it shrank to the right size. Harry then looked down at the chest and saw his name written on the note.

_Harry,_

_I have put this chest together for you. It contains a multitude of things which will help you in the years to come. I believe you will like what it contains, now, go to the wall at the back of the vault, there is something there you must see._

_Padfoot_

"I have put on the Black family ring, does that mean I am now emancipated and able to do magic legally?" Harry said turning to Ripblade.

"Yes, although you may still get letters about underage magic until the paperwork is processed. That will take a couple of hours from when I send it off; but you can still use magic down here without your ministry knowing about it." Ripblade said guessing correctly why Harry was asking.

"Perfect, thanks." Harry said before getting out his wand and shrinking the chest.

Harry put the chest into one of his pockets and decided to follow Sirius' suggestion and went to the portraits at the back of the vault. Harry was originally willing to skip them but if Sirius thought there was something worth seeing then he decided he might as well look. As Harry approached the back wall he noticed that a few of the frames were empty while the ones that were full were asleep.

"Narcissa, come here please." Harry called out.

Harry wasn't sure what was worth seeing here as Sirius didn't mention that particular detail and he hoped that Narcissa might be able to help him. Harry turned around to see if Narcissa was coming when he heard a familiar voice from the wall say "Harry is that really you?"

Harry turned back to face the wall and noticed that one of the previously empty portraits now contained the grinning face of Sirius Black.

"SIRIUS!" Harry shouted out in happiness.

"Yep pup, it is me. I had this done just after writing my will, cost me a lot to get done seeing as most people did not want to be close to the infamous Sirius Black but I managed to get one bloke to do it."

"Sirius, it is good to see you again even if you are somewhat lacking a body." Narcissa said as she walked over.

"Cissy, I see you are already helping young Harry out."

"Indeed, you were most adamant about it in your will. I had planned to just disappear in France with my daughter but I have to stay around now. Not that I can complain much, you did dissolve my marriage for me."

"Ah, so you are a Black again."

"Not quite, we are going to follow your suggestion of clearing out the Malfoy vault before Harry signs the papers. That is the next stop after this vault."

"Harry my boy; we are long overdue for a certain conversation or two. We won't have them now, get today out of the way and we will have them either tonight, tomorrow or sometime very soon. You cannot take my portrait with you but if you take a few of the frames from underneath my portrait and hang them up somewhere then I will be able to jump from frame to frame. Also while I was never the studious type I have stacked a few books by the entrance to the vault that I think you may find helpful and interesting."

"Ok Padfoot, I'll pick up the books and will talk to you later once I have finished everything here." Harry said while shrinking a few frames and putting them into his pocket.

Harry and Narcissa walked back to the entrance of the vault where Ripblade was waiting patiently. Harry saw the stack of just over a dozen books and shrank them before pocketing them. With a nod to Narcissa and Ripblade Harry scooped up a handful of galleons and put them into his money pouch before exiting the vault.

The three of them got back into the cart and carried on in silence until they reached the Malfoy vault. Harry and Ripblade stayed in the cart while Narcissa got out and walked to the vault door. She got out a small blade and cut one of her fingers. She smeared some blood onto the vault door and it opened showing a vault that was almost as large as the Black vault. The only real difference between the two vaults was that the Black vault had portraits and books in it while the Malfoy vault had more gold and jewels in it.

Narcissa opened up a chest and waved her wand. The gold and jewels began flying around the vault and began piling itself into the chest. Once the vault was empty Narcissa closed the chest, shrank it and put it into her robe before walking out and closing the vault door and getting back into the cart. The cart ride to the surface was quiet but as soon as it stopped Harry began talking.

"So I guess I can now annul your marriage. That was quite a lot of gold you cleared out of that vault, I am guessing he will have to sell off Malfoy manor now just to make ends meet." Harry laughed.

"Unfortunately not. While this was a large sum of the Malfoy fortune it was nowhere near all of it. We had this main vault as well as private vaults for myself, Lucius and Draco in this country. We also have vaults in France, Germany, Canada, China and USA. We opened those other vaults during Voldemort's first uprising just in case something happened to that main one. The main thing I was worried about was Lucius getting caught as a death eater and the ministry having the vault frozen so that we could not access it. I have taken a chunk of the Malfoy money today but there is enough in the other vaults for him to survive, although he may need to be careful with his bribes in the future. That is if he ever manages to get out of Azkaban."

As they got out of the cart Harry saw Amelia waiting in the foyer for him and he proceeded to walk up to her. Amelia saw Harry approaching and frowned slightly when she saw that Narcissa was following him.

"I am finished with my business Harry so we can leave whenever you are ready." Amelia said.

"I'm almost finished Amelia. I have a small thing left to do with regards to Sirius' will and then need to hear my parent's one. After that I will be ready to leave. I believe you already know Narcissa." Harry replied back.

"Madam Bones." Narcissa said with a respectful head tilt.

"Lady Malfoy." Amelia said while repeating the gesture.

"Not for much longer. Ripblade is waiting for us Harry."

"Yes, right, let us go and annul your marriage then." Harry said while catching the bemused look on Amelia's face. "Amelia, you are welcome to join us, I would like you present when my parent's will is read."

"Of course Harry, lead the way." Amelia said while holding her arm out to signal for him to lead on.

The three of them followed Ripblade who led them back into his office. When they entered they found that Tonks, Remus and Andromeda were already seated and awaiting them. Once everyone was seated Ripblade spoke up.

"As we have finished with the business in the vaults here are the papers to annul Lady Malfoy's marriage to one Lucius Malfoy." Ripblade said handing Harry a few pieces of parchment. "They require your signature as well as a drop of blood and to be stamped with the Black family crest on your ring."

Harry quickly read over the pieces of parchment to ensure that they were what they were meant to be and once he had done that he signed them and stamped them with the Black family crest. "Done, you are now officially a Black again Narcissa." Harry told her.

"My thanks Lord Black." She said formally with a grin.

"Now we move on to the issue of the Potter's will. As the Potter account manager has passed away since your parent's death it means that I can read their will if you desire me to Mr. Potter." Ripblade said while holding the will in his hands.

"Yes please." Harry replied.

"Before we begin I must inform you that the will was originally read on the 3rd November 1981 when it was put into effect. As it was officially read then and today we are just going over what Mr. Potter is entitled to we do not need the executor here for the reading."

"Sorry for interrupting Ripblade, but there is only one will? Shouldn't there be two and who is the executor?"

"No, your parents made a joint will which means that it was one will for both of them and Albus Dumbledore is the executor."

"This is a common practice among pureblood families, especially ones as old as the Potters." Amelia said. "It is a way to ensure that Potter fortune stayed within the Potter line. Say your father died but your mother survived, if she had remarried before dying then her next of kin would've been her second husband, someone who was not related to the Potter family line and the Potter line would have been absorbed by his family. By making a joint will your parents agreed together who was to get what and it couldn't be changed once one of them died. This way it was ensured that the Potter line was able to continue instead of being absorbed into another family. Does this make sense?"

"Yes, thank you Amelia, so it was basically done so that it was guaranteed that I could continue the Potter line." Harry said after thinking over what Amelia described.

"Yes, pretty much."

"Ok, can I continue?" Ripblade asked and when there was interruption continued with the will.

_This is the last will and testament of James and Lily Potter. We have appointed Albus Dumbledore as the executor of our will and he has agreed to take on that role as proven by his signature at the bottom of this document._

_To Alice and Frank Longbottom, Sirius Black and Olivia Abbot we leave you our love, you already have more than enough money to look after yourselves and any family you may have._

_To Remus Lupin we leave the sum of 500,000 galleons. We know the difficult time you are having with finding employment Remus and we hope that this money will help you live a decent life. We are sorry we have not put your name down for custody of Harry but with your condition we know that the ministry will veto our choice and remove him from your care._

_To Peter Pettigrew we leave the sum of 500,000 galleons. We know of the problems you have been having with your family especially your mothers deteriorating health and that is why we have decided not to ask you to be placed on Harry guardianship list, you have enough worries at the moment without having a child to look after. We hope this money helps you._

_To Deborah Goddard we leave the sum of 500,000 galleons. We know how hard it can be for a muggleborn in the wizarding world especially when it comes to employment and hope this money helps you out._

_To our son, Harry James Potter we leave everything else. Everything is to be managed by our son's guardian until he becomes of age in the wizarding world. He cannot claim the head of family title or access the main vault until he is a legal adult._

_We have set up a trust fund for Harry which he is to be granted access to from his eleventh Birthday. The trust vault is to have 25,000 galleons in it and is to be replenished each year on his Birthday. This is to provide for him while he is at Hogwarts. His Hogwarts tuition is to come out of this vault as well._

_We have also set up a vault for whomever Harry ends up living with. He is our son and while we trust you all to raise him properly we have ensured that if you ever need it there is money available to you for his upkeep. The vault will have 100,000 galleons in it and will be replenished on the 1st January of each year until Harry comes of age._

_In the event of both of our deaths Harry is to be placed in the care of these people in descending order:_

_Alice and Frank Longbottom_

_Sirius Black_

_Deborah Goddard_

_Olivia and Jonathan Abbot_

_We thank you all for being willing to take in our son if the worst happens and we trust him with no one more than all of you._

_Signed_

_James Potter_

_Lily Potter_

_Executor_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

"Are you sure this is their official will?" Remus asked with a growing angry expression on his face.

"Yes, it is the one we were given by Lord Potter several months before his death. Why do you ask? Do you believe that Gringotts is deceiving you? Think carefully before you speak." Ripblade replied with clear menace and agitation in his voice.

"No, of course not. I meant no disrespect to the Goblins. It is just that I am a beneficiary in the will but was not invited to the original will reading, nor did I receive what was left to me. Also I was told by Albus Dumbledore that Harry was placed at the Dursley's by his parents in their will. He has lived with them all his life when he should've been living with the Longbottom's and then the Abbot's after they became indisposed." Remus replied.

"Is that correct Mr. Potter?" Ripblade asked.

"With regards to my living arrangements, yes. The rest I do not know but I doubt Remus would lie." Harry said while still trying to process everything.

"Well Gringotts had no part in the original will reading, it was handled exclusively by the executor and if what you say is correct then it is a matter you need to take up with your law enforcement."

"I can assure you that we will be looking into this." Amelia said.

"I guess the first thing we need to do would be to talk to Dumbledore about it seeing as he was the one responsible. This is just another part of my life he is responsible and needs to answer for." Harry said with a sigh. "Remus, who are Deborah and Olivia?"

"They along with Alice were your mother's room mates and best friends at Hogwarts." Remus replied.

"I'm guessing Olivia is Hannah's mother but who is Deborah and why have I never met them if they were my mother's best friends?"

"Deborah disappeared into the muggle world just after your parents were killed and, that I know of, no one has heard from her since. As for Olivia, I do not know Harry."

"I am a close friend of Olivia, I can ask her to come round and speak to you if you want." Amelia said to Harry.

"While all this is interesting." Ripblade said in a voice that contradicted that statement. "Can we finish off the business we are here to do as I again need to remind you, I am very busy?"

Everyone agreed to finish off the business and Ripblade pulled out several pieces of parchment. "You need to sign these Mr. Potter and then you will be finished and be Lord Potter." Ripblade said handing the parchments to Harry.

Harry signed them and sealed them with blood before Ripblade handed him the Potter family ring while telling him to place it on the same finger as the Black ring. Harry did so and the two rings merged and became one. Narcissa informed Harry that all he had to do was to tap the ring with his wand and say which ring he wanted for it to turn into the ring.

"Why did I have to go to the Black vault to get the ring if you were able to get the Potter one to give to me in this office?" Harry asked curiously.

"Lord Black did not want us to give you the ring, he wanted you to go to the vault to collect it, I do not know why." Ripblade replied clearly fed up with the humans.

"Hmm, I guess he knew I wouldn't go down to the vault and wanted to make sure that I would so that I would see his portrait." Harry mused.

"Yes, maybe. Now, the Potter account has no manager at the moment and you can appoint one if you wish."

"Who would be suitable for the role? The only goblins I know are you and Griphook so I have no idea who would be best as my account manager."

"Griphook is still young and inexperienced at managing an account and I would not recommend an account as large as the Potter's as his first. There are several goblins who could handle an account of this size and I can arrange for one of them to take it over if you wish."

"Would you be willing to do it? You are already the Black account manager so it would be logical for me to have both my accounts run by the same person."

"Yes I can and would be happy to. I do not know the full extent of the Potter fortune and I am pretty sure you don't either so I will do an inventory of both the Potter and Black accounts and send you statements within the next few days. Is that acceptable?"

"That is great, thank you."

"Well that concludes your business here unless there is anything else Lord Potter-Black?"

"No, that is all. Thank you Ripblade." Harry said while getting up from his chair and leaving.

The others followed Harry out of the office and into the foyer. Everyone said their goodbyes and began going their separate ways. Harry pulled Remus aside and told him about Sirius' portrait before giving him a frame. Narcissa told Harry that she was going to France to collect her daughter but that she would be in touch with him in a couple of days. Once everyone was gone Amelia led Harry over to the fireplaces in Gringotts.

"Amelia, why did we have to floo to the leaky cauldron if Gringotts have floo access?" Harry asked curiously as they join a small queue of people.

"It is another of their security features. You can only floo out, you cannot floo in." Amelia said as she reached the front of the queue and threw some floo powder into the fireplace.

Harry followed Amelia through the floo and appeared at Bone's manor. The both of them moved into the kitchen and Amelia began making tea for the both of them.

"Harry, are you alright? A lot happened this morning and you found out a lot of things you did not know before. How are you handling it?" Amelia asked with genuine concern.

"I expected today to be hard. I know Sirius is dead but I saw today as being the point that finalised it and bought it home that he would not be returning but a part of him remains and that made it a lot easier. In the Black vault I found a portrait of Sirius and am able to speak with him any time I want. While I know it isn't truly my godfather, it is a piece of him and knowing that the portrait is there whenever I need it is making it a lot easier for me to handle."

"That's good. Wizarding portraits are great in that it lets a small piece of someone remain; the important thing is to remember that it is just a portrait and to not become too attached or reliant on it. What about what you learned with regards to your growing up?"

"To be honest, it didn't surprise me. Dumbledore has fucked up so much with my life and I knew he was behind me living with the Dursley's. I guess today was just another part of it. Yeah I'm angry about it but it has happened and I cannot change it so what is the point of being stuck up on it."

"That is a very mature way of seeing it Harry."

"Don't get me wrong, I do not forgive him nor will I forget but what is the point of me getting angry and lashing out here. No, that anger I will save for him, he will not get away with it."

"That is understandable, but do not let anger control your judgement or actions. Use that anger but keep a clear head when dealing with him. Do not let it overcome you, especially when dealing with Dumbledore, he is a slippery as a snake. Let us talk about something more pleasant. Did you get your OWL results of Dumbledore today?"

"Yes I did. I am surprised but he actually took them to Gringotts and gave them to me."

"Open it up then, let us see what you got." Amelia said as she bought two cups of tea over to the table and put one in front of Harry.

Harry got the letter out of his pocket and as he did he felt a lump build up in his throat as he became nervous. He looked over at Amelia and saw a look in her face that let him know she knew what he felt. Amelia gave him a little nod and he tried to open the letter but his hands wouldn't move.

"Oh for crying out loud." Someone said from behind him as the letter was taken out of his hands.

Harry looked behind him to see Susan standing there already opening his letter. He went to grab it off her but she turned her back to him to block his attempt.

"Hey, give that back. When did you even get here?" He asked annoyed and confused.

"I live here." She replied like she was talking to a child. "But I heard the floo go and walked in as you got the letter out of your pocket, now let's see."

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Enclosed are your results from you Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWL) exams._

_The Hogwarts express will leave Kings Cross at the normal time of 10am on the 1st September._

_We have also included in this letter the books for each of the subjects available to 6th year students as well as the required OWL grade needed in order to do each subject at NEWT level. We require you to write back with the subjects you wish to take during the next academic year no later than the 15th August so that we are able to create your timetable for you._

_You have also been granted by Professor McGonagall the position of Quiddich captain. Please speak to her on your first day back at Hogwarts to let her know if you wish to accept the position._

_Yours truly,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Susan handed Harry the Hogwarts letter she had just written along with the book list for the different subjects before turning to the piece of parchment with his grades on.

_Ordinary Wizarding level (OWL) results for Harry James Potter_

_Pass grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)_

_Fail grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)_

_Subject not taken at OWL level (N/A)_

_Ancient ruins: N/A_

_Arithmancy: N/A_

_Astronomy: P_

_Care for magical creatures: O_

_Charms: O_

_Defence against the dark arts: O_

_Divination: P_

_Herbology: E_

_History of magic: D_

_Muggle studies: N/A_

_Potions: A_

_Transfiguration: E_

_Congratulations Mr. Potter you have achieved 9 OWLs_

"Well done Harry, that is really good." Susan said happily.

"There must be a mistake. I only took 9 subjects and passed 6 so how did I get 9 OWLs?" Harry asked a little confused.

"When you get an O on your OWLs it counts as 2 OWLs whereas an E or A will net you 1 OWL. I'm surprised you got a P for astronomy though."

"I'm not, remember, the exam got interrupted. It was the night Umbridge and some aurors attacked Hagrid and Professor McGonagall got hit with all those stunners."

"Oh yeah, but it was only a distraction for about 5 minutes then it calmed down."

"I couldn't concentrate after and couldn't finish my star chart."

"So it looks like you can do: creatures, charms, defence, herbology and transfiguration at NEWT level. Are you going to do all five?"

"Yeah I think I will. It is a shame, I had seriously considered being an auror after Hogwarts but you need a potions NEWT to do that. Oh well, on the bright side I no longer have to put up with Snape. What did you get?"

"I got an O for charms, herbology and potions. An E for arithmancy, defence and transfiguration and an A for astronomy, creatures and history."

"Wow, so you got 12 OWLs all together."

"Yeah. Auntie is a friend of Griselda Marchbanks, the woman who runs the examination department of the ministry and she told auntie that only 4 students got better grades than me, although she couldn't say which students but she did say I did the best out of the Hufflepuffs." Susan said with a huge grin on her face.

"Harry, you may not be taking potions for your NEWTs but if you want to become an auror after Hogwarts then there are ways around it." Amelia said.

"How?" He asked.

"Well the NEWT exams are not set by Hogwarts. You can do self study or hire a tutor to help you with potions and then apply to sit the exam over the holidays after your 7th year. The auror academy takes on new recruits in September so you will have time to sit the exam before applying."

"But how would I fit two years worth of potions into two summers?"

"That would be tricky but you could do self study during the school year, learn about the different potions, their ingredients, properties and then do the practical stuff during the holidays with a tutor."

"To be honest I think I will be a bit preoccupied to be worrying about potions what with Voldemort after me."

"That is very true Harry and I doubt a lack of potions NEWT will stop you getting into the auror force. Once Voldemort is defeated I reckon that the ministry will bend over backwards to get you into the force. But that is a thought for another day, what is important at the moment is getting you ready for your new year at Hogwarts. You have a very pretty owl upstairs who can be used to send letters so I suggest that you write a letter to Hogwarts telling them the classes you want to take for your NEWTs. I will also arrange for an auror to take you to Diagon alley sometime over the next week to collect your stuffs as well. I know you're an adult now and don't need an escort to do your shopping nor do you need my blessing to go out whenever you want but I still think taking an auror with you will be beneficial."

"That is fine Amelia; an extra wand is always handy especially if something happens. Can I request auror Tonks as I know her quite well and trust her."

"Of course, I'll arrange for her to have a day on 'guard duty'. Because of my position I have an auror stationed here at all times just in case. One of the new ministry procedures. Myself, the minister and head unspeakable have an auror guard at our homes. I will arrange it so that auror Tonks is here one day."

"Great, thanks. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to hang up my godfather's portrait in my room and have a talk with him."

-HP-

It was approaching 9pm and it had just recently turned night over the North Sea. Twelve figures quickly approached an island covered in fog. Eleven of the figures were flying brooms while one sat on a magic carpet. Voldemort had never been comfortable flying a broom and preferred the comforts of a magic carpet. The fact that they were illegal in the British Isles didn't bother him in the slightest. It was in his opinion a stupid law bought in by broom manufacturing companies bribing Wizengamot officials. Even if he didn't consider it a stupid law it wouldn't bother him, he had become a powerful dark lord, petty things such as laws were beneath him.

They approached the island housing the worst prison in the world, Azkaban. He knew he was within the boundaries of the wards and the fact that he couldn't feel them was a relief to him, it also meant that a certain auror would not be experiencing the wonderful effects of the cruciatus curse tonight.

The dark lord and his eleven death eaters flew down towards the now redundant dock that used to be the main entrance to the prison and got off of their brooms and carpet. Voldemort walked up to what used to be the main entrance to the prison and thought over the spells he could use in this situation before settling on one of the more destructive 'battering ram' spells in his arsenal.

"Colossus impactus." Voldemort said while aiming his wand at the door.

A violet beam flew out of his wand and connected with the door. A second after the beam connected with the door the door began to crack and with the sound of an explosion blew open and sent fragments of wood and stone into the prison. Voldemort cancelled the spell and surveyed the damage. He felt a little impressed with his handy work. The hole he had created was wide enough so that all twelve of them could get into the prison at the same time and was tall enough so that a giant could enter without crouching.

Voldemort walked forward as alarms went off inside the prison. "You four." Voldemort said pointing at four random death eaters. "Secure the portkey point and kill an aurors that decide to turn up to help the guards. Bella, take your squad to the high security area and make sure all our people have been released, once they are free and armed take them to the portkey point to help hold off the aurors. The rest of you follow me."

-HP-

It started off as a standard day for warden Michael Fallons. He had portkeyed to work at 12 pm to relieve the night and morning warden. The Azkaban guard shifts were 12 to 12. Each guard and warden worked a twelve hour shift in a five days on, five days off pattern. It was considered by most to be the easiest job an auror could do. There was very little work to do even if the hours were long. The job was mostly done by new recruits or those looking for an easy time before retirement and each shift consisted of 15 guards and a warden. Warden Fallons was one of the latter category. He was just under a year away from retirement and was using this posting as a way to cruise into retirement. The added pay that aurors got for taking the post was also a welcome bonus and was going towards a nice long holiday with which he was going to go on with his wife to kick start retirement.

With his age and mindset warden Fallons ended up being a rather relaxed and not too studious warden. He considered his shift to be the easier of the two. Recently he had begun to believe that Voldemort would make a run at Azkaban what with the large number of his followers inside. The fact that he had already done so successfully last year was not lost on Fallons but he failed to learn from that incident and instead used it as a basis for his current theory of when it would happen again.

Fallons believed that if Voldemort would attack Azkaban it would be in the early hours of the morning like last time but if he had sat back and thought he would have realised that he was wrong. 9pm to 12am the sky was dark as it was night and his shift would be coming towards the end of their 12 hours shift and getting tired. If he had thought about it he would have realised that that would be the perfect time to attack, but because he didn't think too hard about it and prepare his guards were badly under prepared for what was going on.

Fallons started his day by having an hour long meeting with his staff over lunch. Afterwards he did a quick sweep of the low security section of the prison which consisted of the short term inmates. Those whose crimes were bad enough to warrant a stint in Azkaban but not bad enough to keep them there for good. While he was doing this he had a few of the younger guards patrol the high security section which consisted of those that were in Azkaban for life.

He preferred to patrol the low security section because it had less dementors then the high security and while he had the strongest patronus out of his staff he didn't want to be around the dementors when he didn't have to. Once the patrol was over he would slip into his office and do the small amount of paperwork he needed to do each day and then the remaining 6 hours of his shift he would spend in the main dining area with his guards just chatting, eating or playing cards.

His guards would go on patrol through both sections of the prison every hour and did it on a rotating schedule. It was while he was sitting down playing a hand of poker with three of his guards that he felt the wards go down. This worried him right away as he was not made aware of the wards being lowered so he began setting his people into motion. He sent five to the high security section and another five and another five to the low security section. That left him with two remaining guards as he always had two stationed at the port key point.

He took the two remaining guards with him and headed to his office. It was at this point again that his lack of brains betrayed him because he spent almost a quarter of an hour trying to raise the wards back up and failing. Instead of sending one of the guards to auror HQ to request answers or help he had the two guards with him twiddling their thumbs in his office.

After fifteen minutes of unsuccessfully raising the wards there was a huge explosion that shook the very foundations of the prison. It was at this point that he kicked himself up the arse and got into motion. He tapped his wand to a blue stone on his desk which sounded the alarm for the prison. This alarm would sound throughout the prison as well as auror HQ.

He now knew that the prison was under attack but because of the lack of wards he didn't know who was attacking although he guessed it rather easily nor how many were attacking. He assumed the worst and guessed that Voldemort had come in force to Azkaban. He sent one of the guards to the official portkey area in order to go to auror HQ and tell them that an undetermined number of assailants were attacking and request backup. He then did the same with the second guard but sent him to the back up portkey area.

Once that was done his mind froze over as he couldn't decide what to do next and he preyed that back up would come quickly as he knew he was awfully unprepared for the coming battle.

-HP-

Conrad Dawlish sat at his desk at auror HQ waiting. He sat there in total bliss, a calm feeling washed all over him. He felt like it all afternoon since he had done his patrol through Knockturn alley. He had his orders and he waited to fulfil them. He had been told he was to wait for the Azkaban alarms to sound before doing his job.

An alarm sounded all throughout the auror HQ and immediately aurors jumped up and began running around. Conrad quietly and quickly got up from his desk and headed towards to floo dispatch. Once he reached it he took a small amount of floo powder from one of the floo dispatchers and threw it into the fire. Before the dispatcher could ask what he was doing he had stepped into the fire and called out 'Bones manor' and was gone.

Conrad appeared in the living room of Bones manor. A signal went out throughout the house to inform whoever was home that someone had come through the floo and he waited. Not twenty second passed before Amelia Bones appeared holding her wand.

"Madam Bones, the Azkaban alarm has been set off and is ringing throughout auror HQ." Conrad said before she could ask any questions as to why he was there.

This shocked Amelia and anything she had planned on saying went out of the window as her training kicked in. "What is the situation?" She asked.

"Unknown. Just over a minute ago the alarms sounded and I came straight here. We can get more information when we get to the office. The warden knows not to use the alarm unless Azkaban is under siege though."

"Wait here." Amelia said running from the room into her den/office.

Once Amelia was gone Conrad got out his wand and began scanning the room. It took next to no time for him to find what he was looking for and sent a reducto curse at an angel figurine sitting above the fireplace. Once the figurine exploded a massive klaxon sound appeared all over the house. Amelia ran out of her office as the imperius curse that was placed on Conrad wore off. He saw her raise her wand and tried to speak up before she stunned him.

It was at this point that Harry and Susan ran into the room. "What's going on?" Susan shouted over the klaxon noise.

Amelia waved her wand and cancelled the alarm. "The Fidelius has been breached. Dawlish destroyed the ward stone which cancelled the ward. We are now visible."

As Amelia said that a gong rang out through the house.

"Damn it. The wards have been trigger, we are under attack."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I know it has been a few months since my last update and well life just got in the way. Uni, Christmas and family all got in the way of me finding time to write but now that that is behind me I can hopefully now continue with this story. I must also apologise for the spells I will be using in this chapter and onwards. I know no Latin and am using google translate so if I have butchered the language I do apologise but you'll have to live with it.**

**Warning: Amelia is very OOC in this chapter. The way she is normally portrayed is as a light witch. I am sticking to that portrayal for this story except for this particular chapter. In this chapter I have shown a darker side to her but seeing as her home is being attacked I feel it is justified as those of you with children will know, a parent will do anything to protect their child. For the picky ones out there I know she is Susan's aunt but she raised her so she is basically Susan's parent.**

_Previously:_

_Amelia waved her wand and cancelled the alarm. "The Fidelius has been breached. Dawlish destroyed the ward stone which cancelled the ward. We are now visible."_

_As Amelia said that a gong rang out through the house. _

"_Damn it. The wards have been trigger, we are under attack."_

-HP-

"What are we going to do auntie?" Susan asked with fear in her voice.

"Get on the floo, go to auror headquarters and inform them that the house is under attack." Amelia replied.

Susan ran over to the fireplace and threw some floo powder into the fire but nothing happened. "Auntie, the floo isn't working."

"Damn." Amelia said before attempting to apparate. "They have anti-floo and apparition spells in play."

As Amelia said this the door opened and a man ran in. Amelia raised her wand and just managed to stop herself before she cursed him. It was the auror guard assigned to her house for this night. "Hobson, report." She said.

"I saw nine death eaters outside and three curse breakers attacking the wards." The auror Hobson reported.

"They have five curse breakers as they will need two running floo and apparition jammers. Portus." Amelia said pointing her wand at a log that was sitting in the pile by the fire. "Everyone grab hold."

Everyone held onto the log and Amelia touched her wand to it. "Look like they have a portkey jammer up as well. So, nine death eaters and six curse breakers against the four of us. Not the greatest of odds."

"These portkey wards, do they only stop out going portkeys or stop those coming in as well?" Harry asked.

"We're cut off and unable to call for reinforcements so I'm guessing it will only be out going portkeys as it is easier to stop one way travel then both ways." Amelia replied.

"Good, then I may have a way to improve our odds. I have a way to inform Alastor Moody and Remus Lupin if I am in trouble and they have portkeys to reach me." Harry explained before running out of the room and heading toward his bedroom.

"Susan, follow Harry and make sure you both stay upstairs. I am going to lay traps in the main hall and do not want either of you triggering them. When the front door is breached I want you both to fire off your most destructive curses from the first floor landing. Understand?" Amelia said to Susan.

"Yes aunty." Susan replied before running after Harry.

Amelia turned to Hobson once the children were gone. "We will defend in a pincer formation. I will be in the living room and will attack the hall from there and you will go into the music room and attack from that side. What I said to Susan applies to you as well. You are by no means to enter the main hall once I've activated the traps as it will only be safe for me to do so. Once in position I want you to animate the statues in the hall as well put a quicksand charm under the rug in the hall."

"Yes ma'am. Music room, no entering the hall, animate statues and quicksand the rug." Hobson said giving Amelia a quick salute.

"I will wait until you are in position to activate the traps in the hall."

Hobson ran towards the music room and once he was out of the room Amelia felt the wards go down. She went over to a picture of her brother and touched it with her wand. "Activate." She said.

Most people warded their homes with just one set of wards but Amelia knew how stupid that was. She had the standard repelling, confundus and warning wards but she knew that they would be useless against any force willing to attack her. Because of this Amelia had spent a lot of money and energy putting up a layered ward system. Amelia had spent a lot of time researching this warding configuration and the types of wards to place in it. She was very proud with what she had done with it and she pitied the person who would encounter them.

The ministry had put legislation in place which prohibited the use of lethal wards but after some research Amelia had found a huge loophole in the wording. The law stated that all primary wards must be of a non-lethal nature in order to give unsuspecting people a chance to back off and retreat. The layered ward system is built in such a way that because only the first layer is constantly active it is only that layer which is considered the primary wards. The second, third, and so on layers are considered secondary wards and it is in these layers that Amelia put the more dangerous wards; it was also these layers that Amelia had just activated.

Amelia walked over to the window and looked out to see the death eaters begin to approach her home. A smile crept onto her face as the gravel on the walkway began to rise up and shoot towards the death eaters like bullets. Some of the death eaters managed to create stone walls in time to protect themselves but two were too slow and the gravel tore them to shreds. One of the death eaters decided to jump out of the way but unfortunately for him he dived onto the grass which had turned razor sharp and sliced into his body killing him.

"Three down." Amelia said to no one in particular as she walked into the hall and started waving her wand. "Limen impervius, adicio incendo, vitis contineo."

Amelia stood and admired her handy work. The door and windows were now almost indestructible, the death eaters would have to focus to destroy even one of them and knowing them they would focus on the front door. Amelia smiled as she thought it was like leading lambs to the slaughter. She looked at the walls and could see the faint outline of vines in the wallpaper. They were very easy to miss and had a low level perception charm on them, only those who knew they were there could see them. The death eaters were in for a shock once they entered the hall. She had set her traps so that the vines shot out of the wall and held intruders in place while the candles in the chandelier flung fireballs. She preyed that these along with the quicksand rug and animated statues would be enough to stop the death eaters.

Amelia wanted to do more but she knew that if she wasted too much energy on her traps she would have very little left to fight with. Amelia could hear the death eaters outside struggling with the wards and set herself in place ready for when they finally breached the front door.

-HP-

Voldemort walked through Azkaban savouring the pain and misery he could feel from the place. He heard screaming from further in the prison as the dementors turned on the aurors and smiled. Further up the corridor he was walking down an auror ran around the corner while trying to cast a patronus. The auror saw Voldemort and the death eaters with him and froze. This gave Voldemort the chance to kill him without a fight and he cast the avada curse. The auror dropped to the floor dead before he even realised what had happened. A dementor floated around the corner and stopped when it saw Voldemort. Voldemort approached it. "Once the aurors are taken care of I want you to gather all prisoners in the staff dining hall. Apparently there is a member of Dumbledore's order in here; I would like to meet him." Voldemort said with an evil grin.

The dementor flew away to carry out Voldemort's order and Voldemort and his death eaters carried on their journey towards the warden's office. They arrived at the office with no other distractions. A death eater walked forward and opened the door to have it blow up in his face and throw him into the wall. Voldemort looked down at his death eater to find him dead before shaking his head and banishing the debris into the office. Straight away he followed the debris and fired the killing curse at the only living person in the room. The curse hit the warden and he dropped over his desk dead.

Voldemort looked around the office and was pleased with how easy it had been so far. He knew the ministry relied on the wards and dementors to protect the prison but he had expected more aurors stationed here especially with the breakouts that had happened less than a year ago. He laughed to himself at how incompetent the ministry was.

"My lord." Bellatrix said as she walked into the office followed by the death eaters that had been imprisoned.

"Ah, my loyal followers, lord Voldemort has come to free you from this place so that you may continue the important work I have you do."

"You are most kind my lord." Lucius said while bowing before Voldemort.

"Yes I am generous. If I was not I would leave you here to rot for your incompetence Lucius. But remember I do have my limits and do not abide failure; you particularly will have to work hard to prove your worth to me. Do not make me regret freeing you."

"I will not my lord. The failure at the department of mysteries was a one time occurrence, a freak accident."

"We shall see. Now let us see if we can reclaim you wands."

Voldemort raised his wand and the bookshelf moved revealing a safe. "Tabeo." Voldemort said and acid shot out of his wand.

The acid dissolved the safe door and Voldemort summoned all the wands out of the safe before laying them out on the table. The freed death eaters stepped forward and took the wands that were theirs. Once all the death eaters were rearmed Voldemort picked up the rest of the wands.

"Bella, take your team and reinforce those at the portkey point. Mathers, you will stay here, if the aurors raise the wards I want you to drop them again. The rest of you let us head to the staff dining room. We have new recruits to meet and I have a member of the order to make an example of."

"Yes my lord." One of the death eaters who had accompanied Voldemort replied.

Voldemort walked out of the office followed by the rest of the death eaters, Bellatrix's team split off and headed towards the portkey point while the rest went to the dining hall.

When they arrived at the dining hall they saw it was empty. There were a few scattered plates and cards which showed it had been in use recently but there was no one there now. Voldemort sat on one of the tables facing the door and waited for the dementors to arrive with the prisoners.

-HP-

Harry ran into his room and headed straight to the bedside table. He picked up the coin Remus had given him and squeezed it hard. He felt it warm signalling that Remus and Moody's ones had activated. Harry turned back around and went to leave the room when Susan came in.

"I've sent for help; let's get back downstairs to Amelia." Harry said.

"Aunty said we are to stay upstairs." Susan replied while slightly out of breath.

"Like hell are we staying up here while she fights off the death eaters." Harry said while attempting to get around Susan.

"No Harry. She is setting up traps in the main hall; we cannot go down there without setting them off. We are to defend from the top floor and fire curses down into the hall from the landing."

"Oh, that makes sense. Ok, what is your best curse?"

"Reducto."

"I want you to mainly use that. No stunners, only lethal curses. They are not here to talk to us so we cannot be nice to them. Are you alright with that?"

"Ye… yeah, it's them or us, right?"

"Exactly, you can do this Susan." Harry said while giving her shoulder a squeeze in a reassuring manner.

It was at this point that three people appeared in the room. Harry spun around when he heard them land and raised his wand. "Good Potter, constant vigilance." Moody said while scanning the room with his magical eye. "So, you seem fine, why did you call?"

"Death eaters are attacking the house. The wards are holding them back for now but they've put up apparition, portkey and floo wards so we cannot escape. We suspect there are nine death eaters and half a dozen curse breakers."

"Yes, that is a good reason to call for us. Remus, you and Tonks are to stay with Harry; I'm going downstairs to assist Amelia."

"You can't. Aunty has placed traps in the main hall that will attack anyone but her."

"Then I shall avoid the hall." Moody said while making a part of the floor disappear.

"Wotcha Tonks. While I'm glad you're here, how are you here? I didn't know you had a portkey as well." Harry asked.

"Wotcha Harry. I was with Remus when his coin went off. He said it meant you were in danger so I tagged along."

Harry looked over at Tonks and Remus. "Do I want to know why you two were together?" He asked with a questioning glance.

"Hahaha, probably not lad." Moody laughed as he jumped into the hole in the floor and floated down into the kitchen.

"Ok, the stairs split halfway up and lead to two separate landing. Tonks, you and Susan will take this side while Remus will take the other side with me." Harry said while leading everyone out of the room.

"Sounds like a plan." Tonks said as they approached the stairs.

Tonks and Susan got settled in behind cover and looked down into the main hall while mental preparing them for the coming battle, while they were doing that Harry and Remus walked to the other landing. Once they were there and in cover Harry called for Dobby.

"Yes master Harry Potter sir." Dobby said, his normal excited voice gone and replaced with fear.

"Dobby, from what I've been told house elves are not allowed to use their magic on humans but during my second year at Hogwarts you used your magic on Lucius when he attacked me. Does that mean you can use magic on humans if it is in defence of another?" Harry asked.

"No it doesn't. House elves cannot use magic on humans no matter what but Dobby does not care. He will use magic to protect his Harry Potter."

"That's just what I wanted to hear. Stay here with me and when the death eaters come through the front door I want you to give them hell."

"Yes sir."

"Titch." Harry called out.

"Yes lord Potter-Black." Titch said as he appeared.

"Are you also willing to use your magic to protect your family?"

"Titch cannot. Titch cannot use magic on humans."

"Can you use it to protect Susan? Can you use your magic to divert items in the way of curses aimed at her?"

"Yes, Titch can do that lord Potter-Black." Titch replied happy that he could help.

"Good, go to Susan and do all you can to protect her."

Harry looked over at Remus to see him raise an eyebrow while grinning. "What?" Harry asked.

Remus said nothing but continued to grin. "She is the only one here who hasn't had to fight for her life before, she might not need the help but it is better to have it and not need it."

Remus continued to grin while shaking his head. "Oh shut up." Harry said half heartedly while looking down into the hall.

"I did not say anything." Remus said before laughing.

-HP-

Moody floated down and landed softly on the floor. He did a quick scan with his magical eye and found Amelia in the living room. He walked towards the living room and as he approached the door he called out to Amelia in inform her that he was entering. He walked in to find Amelia had her wand pointed at him. "Prove that you are Alastor?" She said.

"What?! I have my wand out; you attack first then ask for confirmation. For all you know I could be a faster caster. It only takes a second to fire off a silent spell and then you'd be down and out. Think woman, I taught you better than this." Moody replied.

"Ok, you are Alastor. We have six death eaters outside with six curse breakers. I have laid traps in the hall and have Hobson on the other side of the hall ready to catch them in a pincer cross fire."

"Now you tell me your tactics. I have not confirmed anything yet and you so readily trust me. Also there are ten death eaters not six." Moody said while looking outside with his magical eye.

"Nobody is as security conscious as you. Only you would lecture me about not attacking first. Are you sure there are ten, Hobson must have missed a few."

"I would expect you to be as security conscious as me considering you have your niece upstairs, not to mention all the training I gave you when you were a recruit. You are acting like that young girl who walked into that bar down Knockturn with just your auror badge out to apprehend a vampire. And of course Hobson would miss a few death eaters attacking the home he is protecting, useless auror. Why do you even have him guarding your home?"

"I was just out of training and only you would know that story. He may be a little green but he is a good man."

"HA!" Moody laughed before scanning the hall. "Well at least your defence is better than your caution. I think I can add a few things though."

"Affigo." Moody said pointing his wand towards to floor before aiming it at the tapestries. " Vividus tapetes."

"How many people are there with you? I'm guessing you were part of the reinforcements Harry sent for."

"Yes, he has a way to contact me and Remus Lupin. The both of us are here as well as Nymphadora Tonks."

"Seven against thirteen. Better odds then what we had five minutes ago." Amelia mused.

Moody eyed the front door. "They have reached the door. There are eight death eaters and two curse breakers. I do not know what wards you have up on your grounds but the curse breakers seem to be having difficulty with them. Also I believe it is now seven against ten. You're defences took down two death eater and a curse breaker just before they reached the door."

There was a massive knock on the door as the death eaters tried and failed to destroy it.

"As they should." Amelia smiled. "I put a lot of effort into those wards. I travelled all over the world to find the best and only the most experienced curse breakers will know how to disable them all."

"At least I taught you something well." Moody said with a hint of pride in his voice.

As soon as Moody said that the door blew up and two death eaters ran in to find themselves stuck to the floor with vines wrapping around them while fire shot down at them from above.

Amelia didn't bother with the death eaters in the hall; she knew the traps would take care of them. Instead she focussed on the ones outside the door. She saw Alastor blast the legs off one of the death eaters while curses flew down from the first floor landing finishing them off.

"Fulgur." Amelia said while pointing her wand at the door.

A bolt of lightning flew out of Amelia's wand and she heard someone scream from outside. "That leaves seven." Moody said before sending a violet curse out of the door.

-HP-

Harry crouched down on the landing and looked at the two people with him. The usually hyper Dobby was stiff and focused on the front door with a look of determination on his face. Harry turned to Remus who gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his shoulder. Harry looked back down to see the front door being blasted apart and two death eaters run in. The two made it two steps before they were stuck to the ground while being attacked by vines and fire.

"Impressive." Remus whispered before firing off a curse.

Harry saw a curse come from the living room and impact a death eater. "Confringo." Harry said while aiming at a death eater.

His spell hit a death eater in the chest as a reducto hit the death eaters head. He assumed that the curse came from Susan and looked over at her to make sure and he saw her firing off more reducto curses. He turned back to the death eaters and carried on firing curses. Once both were dead a bolt of lightning shot out of the living room and flew out of house. Curses began coming in from the outside but they were aimed randomly and were not hitting even close to anybody in the house.

All four positions fired curses towards the door but it was a game of chance, both side were hidden from view and firing at random just hoping to hit someone. The statues began walking towards the door. One got hit with a stray curse as it approached and blew apart. Remus aimed his wand at the door. "Gurges." He said.

A swirl of wind appeared and picked up the debris and dust from the broken door which created a smoke screen. The statues walked through the smoke screen and there were screams from outside as Remus said the counter to his charm. The smoke screen cleared and they could see the statues were now a pile of rubble on the ground, they also saw the dead body of a death eater among the rubble.

Curses began being fired back into the house and everyone returned fire. After a minute of this Harry got annoyed. "This is ridiculous. This isn't working. Dobby, I know house elves can expand the size of a room, can they also make walls disappear?" Harry asked Dobby.

"Yes we can, but that wall is a supporting wall, we get rid of that wall and the house becomes unstable."

"Can you remove a portion of the wall? Not a lot so that it doesn't risk the roof caving in but enough so that we can actually see the death eaters outside."

Dobby grinned and snapped his fingers. A portion of the front wall disappeared and the enemy became visible. This caused the death eaters to recoil in surprise. This surprise caused two of them to get hit with curses. The four remaining death eaters created a small wall in front of them and ducked behind it for cover. A blue curse flew out from the music room which cause the wall to turn to sand and the death eaters became visible again.

This time they didn't bother with hiding and instead fired as many curses as they could into the house. "Accio death eater." Harry said.

The death eaters flew into the house and towards Harry but he cancelled the spell as soon as they entered the house and they fell onto the floor. One of them was unlucky enough to hit the rug and he was pulled into the quick sand charm within seconds and was out of the fight. The other three tried to get to their feet but found themselves stuck to the floor. Everyone fired curses at them and they were out of the fight as well.

Amelia walked into the hall and cancelled the traps. "It is safe to come down. Hobson, cancel the quicksand spell. Alastor, are the curse breakers still outside? Is everybody ok?"

"We're unhurt." Harry called out.

"Same for me and Susan." Tonks replied.

"Quicksand is disabled. The hallway is safe." Hobson said while walking into the hall.

"The curse breakers fled as soon as the death eaters got summoned into the house. Who did that?" Moody said while walking over to the body of a death eater.

"I did." Harry said while walking down the stairs.

"Nice work Potter."

"Ok, Auror Tonks and Hobson, I want you with Alastor to scan the parameter. I have deactivated the external traps and I want you to make sure that there are no other people out there waiting to surprise us. I am going to floo auror headquarters and get a team here immediately." Amelia said.

Amelia waited for them to head outside before heading over to Susan. "Are you alright?" She asked Susan.

"Yeah I'm fine aunty, only one curse came close but Titch blocked it."

Amelia walked into the living room to access the floo. Remus began checking over the death eaters. This left Susan and Harry alone. Susan sat down on the stairs and Harry walked over to join her. They just sat there in silence. Harry could feel the tension in Susan but didn't know what to say. He looked over to watch Remus. After what seemed like hours but was less than a minute Susan spoke and broke the silence.

"I'm shaking." She said with slight surprise.

Harry looked at her and noticed that she was indeed shaking. "Do not worry. That is only the adrenaline leaving your system. It is natural after something like this." Harry said trying to reassure her.

"Ok." She said. "Merlin, look at this mess."

"It's bad but it's nothing that can't be fixed."

"I killed that one. Oh Merlin, I killed him."

"Hey, it was him or us. Do not feel bad about protecting yourself and those you care about."

"But still, he is dead because of me. Did he have children? Is his wife expecting him home tonight? I know what it is like to lose family while young, it is not nice. Did I do that to some kid, take his or her dad." Susan said before crying.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "Yes you killed him. I killed those that I summoned into the house. You cannot think about the 'what ifs'. We do not know if he had a family, but he came here ready to take yours away from you. He knew what he was doing and had no problem with it. If you are going to think of the 'what ifs' then think about what he would have done had you not stopped him. How many families would he have visited after today? How many children would he have killed or made orphans? Taking a life is not a good thing and is never easy but by killing him you could have saved a lot of people. I know this thought doesn't help much but it is better than thinking about his family."

Harry cradled her head close to his chest, rested his head on top of her head and just held her. "You're right; it doesn't help much but thank you for trying." Susan said through the tears while wrapping her arms around him.

Amelia walked back into the hall. "As soon as Alastor and the others are back we are heading to auror headquarters. Azkaban was attacked and I am needed there. What's wrong Susie?" Amelia said walking over to Susan and Harry.

"The battle has just sunk in." Harry said before passing Susan over to Amelia.

Amelia hugged Susan and began talking to her. Harry left Amelia to it and walked over to Remus. "Are they all dead Moony?" He asked.

"Definitely. I'm just seeing if we can identify a few. Most of them are beyond recognition." He replied.

"This one looks like he is just out of school, although I do not recognise him." Harry said while looking down at one of the death eaters.

"He most likely was, he could have come from Drumstrang. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, a little tired but I'm not feeling any guilt like Susan. Is that bad?"

"Normally yes, but I heard you talking to her and you were right. Killing is never nice but we had to look out for our lives first. You have to ask yourself, did you kill them because you want to or did you do it to protect someone? You'll have your answer whether it is right or wrong not to feel guilt when you answer that."

"I did it to protect everyone here."

"There you go. Never feel guilty about looking out for your friends. Yes we took it to extremes but in this instance those extreme measures were called for."

Moody and the others walked back into the hall. "The curse breakers were the only ones out there. We have no sign of anyone else and they bugged out at the end of the fight." Moody reported to Amelia.

"Ok, give yourself a few minutes then we are leaving. We need to go to auror headquarters. Azkaban is under siege and we're needed there as the prison hasn't been reclaimed yet."

"Remus." Moody said.

"All are dead, a few are identifiable but most are too damaged to get a clear read on who they could be."

"Can we identify the curse breakers? It will be handy knowing who Voldemort is trying to hire."

"I don't know about the ones outside but the only one curse breaker to make it into the house was the one the rug claimed, we will not be getting to him let alone identifying him."

"One got ripped to shreds by the gravel and one got squashed between the grass and a statue. His body is in ruins but if we can find his wand we may be able to find out who he was, it will be difficult if he came from abroad though. If he is a foreigner let's just hope he used the international portkey terminal and didn't come into the country through muggle means."

"Alright everyone, we're leaving for auror headquarters. The floo is activated, Alastor, you go first everyone else will follow through. I will go last and set up an alarm ward to let me know if anyone tries to enter the property."

Amelia guided Susan into the living room and everyone else followed her. Everyone began going through the floo until it was just Harry, Susan and Amelia left. Harry stepped into the fire and called out auror headquarters. He appeared to a pandemonium. Everyone was rushing about and he was quickly shooed out of the floor dispatch. "Kingsley!" Tonks called out.

"Hey Tonks. I was wondering where you were. I've been trying to get in contact with you, didn't realise you were helping the boss defend her home." Kingsley said as he walked over.

"What's going on?" Tonks asked.

"Voldemort's forces have attacked Azkaban. We don't know how many but we have already sent in two teams and none have reported back. We assume they have complete control of the portkey point. One guard managed to get out. He said he got sent to the backup portkey point and that it is unguarded so we are planning an assault using that as our insertion point. We don't know how many are there but the dementors have turned and we assume the death eaters we have locked up have been released. Worst case and most likely scenario is that Voldemort is there and all prisoners have been released. We have also tried to raise the wards several times but they come down almost instantly. We assume he has control of the warden's office."

Amelia walked over with Susan. "Harry, can you and Susan wait in my office while we deal with this please? I will come and see you both when I am done." Amelia asked.

"I want to help." Harry said bluntly.

"You may be emancipated Harry but you are not an auror, I am sorry but I while you were great at the house I will not take you into Azkaban with us." Amelia said while trying to be sensitive.

"I'd like to help." Remus said. "You need the help and I will be useful with my heightened senses, plus I will not let Dora go in there without me backing her up."

"Heightened senses?" Amelia queried.

"I am a werewolf, I can pick up stuff you cannot."

"I will not have one of those creatures watching my back." One of the aurors said.

Harry spun around and drew out his wand. "Watch what you say about Remus or I will put you into St. Mungos." Harry warned him.

"Put your wand away kid before you hurt yourself."

"If I'm going to hurt anyone it will be you."

"I'd like to see you try boy."

"Jenkins, I have seen you in a fight. If Harry wanted to hurt you he could do it before you were able to pull your wand out of your arse." Moody said. "Go and make sure our portkeys are ready."

"You're no longer active Moody; I do not follow your orders." Jenkins replied.

"But you will follow mine, now do what Moody said." Shacklebolt said dismissing the auror. "We could do with Lupin's help boss."

"Ok, Remus you are with Tonks. Tonks take him to the armoury and see if there is any armour there that fits him." Amelia said.

Amelia led Harry and Susan into her office and transfigured two armchairs into sofas. "They should be comfortable enough for you and they're now big enough that you can sleep on them if you manage to find sleep tonight. There is a break room down the hall where you can get a drink or snacks and the toilets are opposite the break room. Please do not leave this office other then to go to the break room or toilet. I will try and get back as soon as possible but I do not know how long I'll be. I know this isn't great but it will have to make do for tonight." Amelia said.

"It's fine aunty." Susan said while sitting down on one of the sofas.

"I'm sorry Susie, I don't want to leave you right now but we need to contain the Azkaban situation before the prisoners leave the island."

"I understand, just be safe and come back ok."

Amelia walked up to Susan and gave her a hug. "Of course. I will be a quick as I can." Amelia said before getting up and walking out of the office.

"Does that happen often?" Harry asked.

"No, this is only the second time she has had to put work ahead of me. Normally she is able to get someone else to do it but with situations like this they need every available person." She replied without looking at him.

"I wanted to be an auror. It sounded exciting and like a good job but I don't know if I could do that."

"It isn't all like this. There is a lot of paperwork involved. Aunty has always said the key to catching criminals is the timely completion of paperwork."

Harry walked behind Amelia's desk and sat in her chair. "I may focus on quidditch instead of becoming an auror, although, the auror route is appealing if I get an office like this."

"But you'd have to rise to the top to get this office. There are years of being stuck in a cubicle before you get your own office, and then they are not as nice as this one."

"But surely if I defeat Voldemort then that would entitle me to my own office?"

"Oh no, you still need to do the grunt work with the other aurors. You can't just skip all the lower work and head up to management."

"Hmm, perhaps I should just skip the auror thing and aim for minister. Dumbledore beat Grindelwald and everyone wanted him as minister."

"Yes but he was old by that time already. You need to be at least 35 years old to become minister. I doubt you will get it right after defeating Voldemort. You could aim for chief warlock of the Wizengamot. You already have two seats as Lord Potter-Black and I'm sure you'll get ample backing."

"True but while it is a respected position there is no power there. The whole Wizengamot make the decisions and the chief can be outvoted. Oh, look what I've found. Naughty Amelia."

Harry pulled his hand out of the drawer he'd been looking through and wrapped in his hand was a bottle of Ogden's finest. "Now why would Amelia have firewhiskey at work?" Harry asked.

"How much is in there?"

"About three quarters."

"So aunty has been drinking at work. That is not good."

"No it isn't. I think we should get rid of this for her before her boss finds it."

"But Harry, there is no bin in here."

"True, but there are two glasses." Harry said while using his free hand to pull two glasses out of the drawer.

-HP-

Amelia closed the door to her office and walked into the main area of the auror headquarters. She looked around and saw the person she was looking for. She approached a group of aurors and waited for the one giving the orders to finish. Jamie Carter was the person she had used to replace Scrimgeour when he became minister. See looked at Jamie. He was in his mid thirties and was a bit short considering he was a full adult. Jamie was only five feet six inches tall but for a small person he packed a lot of power. Jamie had short cropped ginger hair and an extremely messy beard. He had a small build with almost not fat or muscle on his frame and when in a group of people he was also the one at the back just listening and watching. If you didn't know he was there you could completely miss him but once things kicked off he was the loudest person in the room and got things rolling quickly and effectively. It was for this reason that Amelia had promoted him to head auror. She had a few other contenders for the job but none of them handled a crisis as well as Jamie did.

"Can I help you boss?" Jamie asked as he dismissed the aurors he was talking to.

"I need a sit rep." Amelia replied.

"We still have aurors coming in but the majority of our force is here already. We have skeleton crews running our beta and Charlie facilities and have got as many of their personnel here helping with the situation. We have activated the auxiliaries and retired aurors and they are slowly coming in. We have about four fifths of our active aurors in the building and ready to go. We have ten full teams of the standard four auror teams as well as four of the larger eight people units. We also have twenty three aurors without full teams and are putting them into temporary teams for the duration of this situation. Everyone has been given armour and an amulet."

"What about the hitwizards?"

"Those useless arseholes. According to them I do not have the authority to put them into action so they are sitting on their arse watching this happen and waiting for you to order them into action."

"When I am not around you are the acting head of law enforcement. You have the authority to move personnel as you see fit."

"They must have conveniently missed that memo."

"We do not have time to mess around with them now. How is deployment coming?"

"We will begin deploying in minutes. We are leaving the four large teams here as backup in case they are needed or in case we get reports in of more homes being attacked. I will be managing five of the teams with Kingsley taking the other five. Moody has claimed leadership of those without full teams and I'm not stupid enough to tell him no. I will go with one team to the back up portkey area and will report back. Once I've given the signal the other fours teams in my unit will come followed by Kingsley's unit with Moody taking the rear."

"Ok, that sounds good. I will be taking charge of this operation from here. I will join Moody's unit. Once in Azkaban you are to secure the portkey area and wait for my unit to come in before we decided on the plan of attack from there."

"Yes ma'am."

Amelia and Jamie walked to the portkey dispatch and while Jamie went over the points of entry with the other teams Amelia walked over to Moody. "Alastor, I will be joining your unit for this operation." Amelia informed Moody.

"Ok. I have Tonks and Remus getting the unit ready and was able to get rid of Hobson as well. How are we handling this?"

"Carter is going in first with one team. Once he reports back the rest of his unit will follow. Shack will go in second with us going last."

As soon as Amelia finished saying that Jamie and his team disappeared from the portkey point. It was a tense thirty seconds before Jamie reappeared and told everyone that the insertion point was clear and he gave the go ahead for the rest of the teams to deploy. It was not long that Amelia had to wait until it was time for her unit to depart. Once Kingsley's unit had left Amelia stepped onto the platform with hers. Moody handed out a long length of rope which everyone grabbed hold of. Once everyone was holding onto the rope Moody tapped it with his wand and the portkey activated.

It took Amelia a second to adjust to the dim lights when she landed but once she had adjusted she looked around and saw Jamie and Shacklebolt crouching down. She approached them to see them talking with a house elf. They both stood up and walked over to her. "According to the house elf they have eight death eaters guarding the main portkey terminal, one death eater in the warden's office with the ward control while Voldemort and the rest are in the staff dining area with all of the prisoners and dementors." Jamie informed her.

"Ok. I want you to take two teams and get back control of the warden's office for us. This is of utmost importance, with those wards up we cut off their ability to use magic and it will make our job much easier. Shack, I want you to take the whole of your unit and regain control of the main portkey terminal. I will take lead of the remaining three teams from Jamie's unit and take them as well as Moody's unit to the dining hall and reclaim our prisoners and any death eaters who thought it was smart to attack my prison."

"Be careful boss, Voldemort is with them."

"I know. We will wait outside the dining hall until I feel the wards go up and then we will attack. He may be powerful but he won't be able to access that power with the anti-magic wards up. Ok, we have our assignments, let's get to it."

Amelia walked through the prison with her unit. She knew that everyone was in the dining hall but she still took it slow and steady just in case things had changed since the report from one of the prisons house elves. Once they arrived at the dining hall Amelia gather her unit around as well as Moody.

"We wait here until the wards go up. Once they go up my unit will go in first. We will split at the door and fan out across the wall leaving room for Moody's unit to come in down the middle. I want stunners only. These prisoners did not instigate this break out attempt, we want them back in their cells and not dead. We have enough paperwork today as it is. Once the prisoners are down use whatever you need to use against the death eaters to get them down and out. I want six of you on the left of the door and six on the right. Once inside move along the wall you are nearest to. All we do now is wait, no relaxing though, I want to be moving seconds after the wards go up. Moody, inform your team of the rules of engagement." Amelia said quietly while positioning herself by the door.

Amelia could hear the prisoners on the other side of the door. They were loud and sounded joyous. She wondered how they could sound joyous while stuck in a room with dementors. It was then that it hit her that she had not made preparations for the dementors. She turned to her unit.

"I want the four who can create the strongest patronuses to be the first ones through the door. You are not to stun the prisoners, your job is to keep your patronuses up and keep the dementors off of us and Moody's unit."

Four people stepped forward and took the spaces by the door. Once they were in position Amelia felt the wards go up. With a quick silencing spell on the door she opened it and her unit ran in quietly. They fanned out across the wall before Moody's unit stormed into the room. A few of the prisoners saw them enter but the majority were occupied and didn't know what was happening until the stunners started flying and hitting people.

Voldemort was on the other side of the room preparing his departure with his death eaters when the wards went up. He felt them go up and began getting his followers leaving as the aurors stormed the room. The aurors planned this attack thinking that they had the advantage of surprise as well as holding the only exit to the hall but Voldemort had planned ahead. He knew if he stayed in Azkaban then the aurors would attack in force which would give his death eaters doing the home assaults a bit of relief. He knew that they would come into the hall from that particular door because it was the only entrance to the hall. In anticipation of this Voldemort had previously blasted a hole in the back wall as the means of escape for him and his followers.

He had promised the prisoners freedom if they were willing to serve him. What they didn't realise was that the service he wanted from them was to act as a distraction for the aurors when they stormed Azkaban. As soon as the wards went up he had begun moving his troops through the hole and out of the hall and it was to this that Amelia had entered.

Amelia saw that Voldemort was retreating and fired a bone breaker curse at him and he easily dodged it but because he dodged it the curse carried on until it hit something and that something was an unlucky death eater. The curse hit the death eater in the leg and it shattered the bones making it impossible for him to escape. Voldemort ignored the pleas of the downed death eater and exited the hall himself. As he was leaving Amelia saw Voldemort pull out a knife and slice open his hand. Voldemort moved his hand along the edge of the hole and said something Amelia couldn't hear.

Amelia ran forward intending to chase Voldemort but one of the prisoners was also running after Voldemort. She could only guess that the prisoner was trying to escape but as the prisoner reached the hole in the wall he stopped dead and began screaming out in pain. Amelia stunned the prisoner before turning back towards the door.

"Moody, take care of the prisoners. All of my unit not currently managing a patronus is to follow me. Voldemort and his death eaters are escaping." Amelia shouted before running out of the door.

Amelia started chasing down Voldemort. She could hear him and his death eaters ahead and followed the sound of their running. As she turned a corner she looked back to see two teams of her unit following her. She continued chasing down Voldemort and realised that he was heading towards to old entrance to Azkaban. Amelia tried to pick up speed and as she rounded the last corner she saw Voldemort standing on the dock outside the former entrance with his death eaters jumping onto brooms.

Amelia started firing curses as she continued to run toward him but he just kept dodging them. As she got closer she heard him say 'poena' and it was then that she realised that he had spread his blood along the hole where the entrance used to be. 'Shit, blood magic.' Was all she could think before she hit the blood ward and pain shot all over her body.

Amelia screamed out in pain as the blood ward claimed her and the last thing she saw before blacking out was Voldemort laughing as he stepped onto a magic carpet.

-HP-

**A/N: Well, another chapter done. I've not got much to say here except to comment on the exchange between Harry and Susan in Amelia office. People deal with trauma in different ways. The way I deal with it is to focus on inconsequential things as well as banter with friends. It is this type of thing I decided to do with them.**


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